Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå

Dear Colleague: 

Today we celebrate the Class of 2025!

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå School of Medicine Hooding and Oath Ceremony for our medical students will be held today, Monday, May 19, at 10:15 a.m. at Boettcher Commons on the Anschutz Medical Campus.

Ceremonies for graduates from our Child Health Associate/Physician Assistant program will be at 10:30 a.m. at the Central Green Amphitheater. Details for all commencement activities, including links to livestreams, can be found on the .

At this year’s festivities, we will join with the family and friends of our graduates to celebrate our graduates’ achievements and to wish them well on the next stop of their professional journey.

Our newly minted physicians are ready for their next steps. As the first graduates to fully complete our newly designed curriculum, they are trendsetters. Their trek through medical school has equipped them to be exceptional physicians, compassionate about patients, expert in care, and team leaders.

We also are celebrating the graduation of the of medical students.

Our are now and always members of the CU School of Medicine family, and we are excited to see all the great things they will do in the years ahead.

Delivering the keynote address for the medical students is Mona Hanna, MD, MPH, Associate Dean for Public Health at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Dr. Hanna is a pediatrician, scientist, activist, and author, who first researched and revealed the lead in the blood of Flint, Michigan's children.

Gap Funding Update
Our School of Medicine has provided nearly $1 million to 13 researchers who are experiencing unexpected federal research funding disruptions. Those researchers represent faculty from nine departments.

The launched last month to help programs facing sudden shortfalls due to recent instability in federal funding. Each department contributed to a fund to help our investigators protect programs, personnel, and patient enrollment in federally supported clinical trials.

What a remarkable way to work together!

At a meeting of clinical chairs last week, Nanette Santoro, MD, Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said the program has had a significant impact for basic scientists in her department, who were relieved that their colleagues would come together to help during an emergency.

We are fortunate on our campus that we can invest in programs while other academic medical centers are forced to downsize. Our campus is holding true to our commitment to invest in our people. We have robust clinical practices and strong partnerships that offer reliable revenue based on the work of our faculty and staff. We have strong demand for clinical services, and we have talented leaders maintaining the business.

We have a level of collegiality at our school that is the envy of many other institutions. Many thanks to all department leaders and our staff teams who hustled to create a meaningful way to support our researchers and the entire campus community.

Keep up on governmental updates at the CU System Federal Updates Transition Updates and the campus .

Town Hall
I’m hosting a virtual town hall Thursday, May 29, at 8 a.m., and I hope you’ll join to hear my conversation with Vineet Chopra, MBBS, MD, MSc, interim Executive Vice Dean overseeing clinical affairs, quality, and research operations, and Shanta Zimmer, MD, Executive Vice Dean, Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå.

We will be discussing our common vision to drive the school’s commitment to excellence in clinical care, research, and education. Whether you're a faculty or staff member, patient, partner, student, or supporter, this is an excellent chance to join in the conversation about the future of our school

We welcome you to for the Zoom webinar and to for the panel in advance. Town hall details are on the campus calendar.

Faculty Updates
Jean Kutner, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, has received the 2025 SGIM Robert J. Glaser Award, which is the highest award of the Society of General Internal Medicine. The recognizes outstanding contributions to research, education, leadership, and mentoring in the field of generalism in medicine. Dr. Kutner received the award at the society’s annual meeting last week.

Steve Abman, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, will receive the 2025 Robert F. Grover Prize from the American Thoracic Society at the society assembly in May. The recognizes outstanding contributions to the study of the effects of hypoxia and high altitude on pulmonary circulation.

Katelyn Enzer, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, has received a from the Pulmonary Hypertension Association for her clinical research on “Pulmonary Ventilation and Perfusion with Electrical Impedance Tomography.”

Danielle Guez-Barber, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, has been awarded a from the Hypothesis Fund to examine how blood and brain macrophages impact the severity of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. Her work may be key to addressing the 2nd leading cause of neonatal death and disability.

Recent Publications
Nine faculty members from our Department of Pediatrics are authors of published in the April 2025 issue of NeoReviews, a journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The authors, working as the Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå Hospital Substance Exposed Newborns Collaborative, known as “CHoSEN,” are a regional initiative dedicated to assisting families impacted by perinatal substance use, as well as the healthcare providers who support them.

Stephanie Gold, MD, Scholar at the Farley Health Policy Center, is corresponding author of a , “State Policies to Advance Primary Care Payment Reform in the Commercial Sector,” highlighted in a May 7 of the Milbank Memorial Fund. Five coauthors are from the Farley Center.  

No Message Next Week
There will be no Dean’s Message on May 26 due to the Memorial Day holiday. Enjoy the extended weekend!

Have a good week,

John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA
Richard D. Krugman Endowed Chair
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and
Dean, University of Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå School of Medicine