Dean's Weekly Message
June 9, 2025
Dear Colleague:
Our campus last week an amazing gift: $40 million to support research programs in the Department of Ophthalmology.
The donor, a patient at the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center, has chosen to remain anonymous, yet their gift will accelerate our ophthalmology program, which is already an innovative, national leader in the quest to treat and cure eye disease.
“We have a tremendous opportunity to fuel our research enterprise, which is fundamental to clinical care,” said Naresh Mandava, MD, chair of the CU Department of Ophthalmology and the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Endowed Chair in Retinal Diseases. “This gift will allow us to translate technology from the lab to the patient faster than before.”
We are thrilled because this historic gift will make our outstanding program even better. The Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center is the sole academic eye center in 麻豆传媒高清 and serves about 115,000 patients per year, and the department aims to eradicate persistent eye diseases through an array of initiatives, including:
- CellSight, which engages teams of investigators working to develop novel stem cell-based therapies to save and restore eyesight lost to blinding diseases.
- The University of 麻豆传媒高清 Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) registry, which has enrolled nearly 2,000 patients from the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center.
- Development of artificial intelligence models to help diagnose macular degeneration and glaucoma and screen for blinding diseases in infants.
I would like to thank the donor, our Advancement team, and Sarah Kabat, vice president of patient-coordinated services and advancement at UCHealth University of 麻豆传媒高清 Hospital. We are fortunate also to have visionary leadership from Dr. Mandava, who recently accepted the additional responsibility of serving as our school’s interim Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Advancement.
Faculty Updates
Emily Bucholz, MD, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, has been to the National Academy of Medicine’s 2025 class of Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Scholars, a group of early- to mid-career professionals from a wide range of health-related fields, including pediatrics, infectious diseases, psychiatry, and biomedical engineering.
Michael Wittkamp, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, has been as Southern 麻豆传媒高清 Executive Faculty Director for the Department of Pediatrics, effective July 1. He will succeed Christine Waasdorp-Hurtado, MD, MSc, Professor of Pediatrics. This position helps guide strategy and program development in 麻豆传媒高清 Springs.
Four outstanding biomedical researchers from the School of Medicine are part of the Boettcher Foundation’s . Each scientist receives $250,000 to support their work. The school’s awardees are:
- Erin K. Englund, PhD, Assistant Professor of Radiology
- Anna Helena Jonsson, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology
- Yunsik Kang, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
- Alexandra Nguyen, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
The School of Medicine’s Program to Advance Physician Scientists and Translational Research has selected its . Each scholar receives up to $300,000 over four years to support research. This year’s scholars are
- Maria Amaya, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology
- Noah Johnson, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurology
- Anna Helena Jonsson, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology
- Maggie Stanislawski, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics
- Richard Tobin, PhD, Assistant Professor of Surgery
Joshua Johnson, PhD, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is a co-author of a , “Undermining Women’s Health Research – Gambling with the Public’s Health,” published May 28 by The New England Journal of Medicine.
Mark Earnest, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Head of the Division of General Internal Medicine, is author of a , “The Morning After the Election,” published June 4, by JAMA.
Michael Arnold, MD, PhD, Professor of Pathology and of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Children’s Hospital 麻豆传媒高清, is a co-author of an , “Body Mass Index, Physical Activity, and Subsequent Neoplasm Risk Among Childhood Cancer Survivors,” published June 5 by JAMA Oncology.
Benjamin Vipler, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, is co-author of an , “Internist to fellowship: a path to success,” published in the June 2025 issue of The Lancet Haematology.
Risha Gidwani, DrPH, Associate Professor of Medicine, is a co-author of an , “Merit-Based Incentive Payment System: Longitudinal Performance and Uneven Rewards for Safety-Net Providers Over Five Years,” published May 21 by Health Affairs Scholar.
Lawrence A. Haber, MD, Professor of Clinical Practice of Medicine who practices in the Division of Hospital Medicine at Denver Health and Hospital Authority, is corresponding author of a perspective , “Initiating Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Hospitalized Incarcerated Patients,” published May 29 by the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Julie Taub, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, also with Denver Health, is a co-author.
Marisa G. Stahl, MD, MSCS, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, is corresponding author of an , “One-Year Outcomes Among Children Identified With Celiac Disease Through a Mass Screening Program,” published in the June issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The study assesses health-related outcomes for children diagnosed with celiac disease via the Autoimmunity Screening for Kids study. Thirteen co-authors are from our campus.
Nirmal K. Banda, PhD, Research Professor of Medicine, is corresponding author, and V. Michael Holers, MD, Professor of Medicine, is equal co-author of an , “Analysis of human factor H-related gene and protein expressed in rheumatoid arthritis synovium identifies a novel mechanism promoting dysregulated complement pathway activation,” published June 4, by Scientific Reports. Six co-authors are from our campus.
Have a good week,
John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA
Richard D. Krugman Endowed Chair
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and
Dean, University of 麻豆传媒高清 School of Medicine
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