Department of Medicine at the
University of
Colorado Denver
Second Quarter 2008 News
Outstanding 2008 Housestaff Match- the new first year internal medicine houseofficers that will be joining us on 23 June 2008 represent an outstanding group of more than 50 individuals. These incoming physicians have had their medical education at 36 medical schools from across the nation while twelve outstanding students will be coming from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. In terms of overall quality, we matched more in the top 100 of our list and matched higher on our list than in many years. The hard work of Suzanne Brandenburg, our Program Director, and her outstanding staff of Sherry Berka and Kristy Hull, our Associate Program Directors including Karen Chacko, Virginia Borges, Jeff Glasheen, Mel Anderson and Warren Cappell as well as our current Chief Residents including Kelsey Gray, Chris Lieu, Eddie Stenehjem, Justin Hopkin, Geoffrey Connors and Rachel Groff were all instrumental in this excellent match. The efforts of all of our housestaff who attended the social event, morning report, noon conference and housed and talked with prospective candidates was terrific and sincerely appreciated. Many thanks to our former Program Director, Bill Kaehny, who has continued his involvement with Housestaff recruitment.
Kudos-some Departmental members that have received special recognition in the past few months include:
Hugo Rosen (GI/Hepatology), the Waterman Endowed Professor and Head of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, was recently elected to membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation.
Bill Hiatt (Geriatrics), the Novartis Endowed Professor and President of the Colorado Prevention Center, is Chair of the Cardiovascular and Drugs Advisory Committee for the Food and Drug Administration and appeared on 60 Minutes on 17 February 2008 to discuss the FDA advisory committee process.
Mike Bristow (Cardiology), former the Head of the Division of Cardiology, received this year’s Discoverers Award, the highest honor that can be bestowed by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Arthur Gutierrez-Hartmann (Endocrinology) was named the 2008 recipient of the Minorities in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Lectureship from the American Association for Cancer Research. This annual award is given to recognize an outstanding scientist who has made meritorious contributions to the field of cancer research and who has, through leadership or by example, furthered the advancement of minority investigators in cancer research.
Gail Eckhardt (Medical Oncology), the Stapp-Harlow Endowed Professor and Head, Division of Medical Oncology, was recently awarded the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Statesman Award for 2008. This award was established to recognize ASCO founders, presidents and board members for their outstanding volunteer efforts. The award is presented at ASCO’s annual meeting which attracts about 30,000 attendees from around the world.
Charles Dinarello (Infectious Diseases) was one of 50 individuals elected as a European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) associate member. This is a particularly singular honor inasmuch as only eight individuals outside Europe were elected.
Drs. Larry Feinberg, Walter Briney and Sterling West were honored at the annual meeting of the Colorado Chapter of the American College of Physicians. Larry Feinberg (General Internal Medicine) was elected Governor of the Colorado Chapter for the upcoming year. Walter Briney (Rheumatology) was the recipient of the Colorado Chapter’s Community and Volunteer Award in recognition of many years of outstanding clinical care, educational expertise, volunteerism and professionalism to the state of Colorado. Sterling West (Rheumatology) received the Colorado Chapter’s Laureate Award which is given annually to an outstanding member of the Colorado Chapter of the American College of Physicians that demonstrates excellence in medical care education or research and in service to their community.
Joel Levine (Gastroenterology) and Bob Gibbons, a member of our clinical faculty and Head of Medicine at St. Joe’s were elected to Mastership in the American College of Physicians.
Yang Chen (Gastroenterology/Hepatology) will receive a special “President’s Award” at the upcoming annual meeting of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. One award is given annually based upon a combination of demonstrated excellence in endoscopic skills, educational abilities, endoscopic research mentoring and service to the organization.
Sonia Flores (Pulmonary/Critical Care) received (with Karen Jonscher) an NIH grant for the Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity. This grant is intended to attract and retain underrepresented students in the biomedical sciences. Sonia, in addition to her NIH-funded RO1 research, is also Director of Graduate Experience for Multicultural Studies at UC Denver.
Ingrid Binswanger (General Internal Medicine) has been selected for the Robert Wood Johnson Physician Faculty Scholars Program. This highly competitive program selects fifteen scholars each year from a national pool. This program provides salary and $300,000 support for three years and lists among its alumni many current national leaders in Divisions of General Internal Medicine and health outcomes research.
Marvin Schwarz (Pulmonary/Critical Care) is this year’s recipient of the American Thoracic Society’s Trudeau Medal. This award recognizes lifelong contributions to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lung diseases through leadership in research, education and clinical care. Marvin led our Pulmonary/Critical Care Division for many years and played a major role in bringing and maintaining the Division to a nationally prominent level.
Josh Thurman (Renal/Rheumatology) was recently notified of his receipt of his first RO1 award. Earlier this year Josh was the recipient of a very competitive two year research award from the Schweppes Foundation. Josh is a good example of an outstanding individual who benefits from inter-Divisional collaboration. Josh’s primary home and the Division where he does his educational and clinical work is Renal while Josh initiated (in collaboration with Mike Holers) and now carries out his research work in the Rheumatology Division.
Paul Bunn (Medical Oncology/Cancer Center) was the recipient of an American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Statesman Award for 2008. This award recognizes the outstanding contributions of ASCO founders, presidents and board members for their voluntary contributions to ASCO. Among many contributions to ASCO, Dr. Bunn served as President of ASCO.
Moshe Levi-the Vice Chair, Research of the Department will be the Chair of the NIH Cell and Molecular Biology of the Kidney Study Section of the National Institutes of Health. This is a singular honor and reflects very positively on Moshe’s scholarship and research accomplishments.
Tom Petty (Pulmonary/Critical Care) is a long-time Departmental faculty member, former Head of the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine and well-known for his pioneering developments in the areas of acute respiratory distress syndrome and comprehensive chronic lung diseases management. Tom recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American College of Chest Physicians. Tom was acknowledged in this award as “the father of pulmonary medicine.”
Jay Burton (Gastroenterology/Hepatology) was recently named as the new Director of the University of Colorado Liver Transplant Program. Jay has been on our faculty for three years and has done an outstanding job as a clinician/educator.
Clinical and Research Activities–University Hospital remains relatively full and the inpatient general medical/surgical beds are running at more than 95% occupancy. In the year to date, clinical collection and contract income for the Department exceeds any previous year by 20%. Research income for the current year to date is running ahead of last year by 3-5%. Collectively, these excellent performances reflect very positively on the hard work of our dedicated faculty.
CTSA Application-Ron Sokol, the Director of our institutional CTSA application has been notified that the application has received an outstanding priority score (143) for the application that was submitted, for the first time, in October, 2007. Until the Council meets in May, 2008, the funding will not be known for sure but the preliminary reports are favorable. Many thanks to Ron Sokol, the Associate Program Directors (Bill Hay-Childhood/Maternal Health, John Steiner-Education, Bob Eckel-Discovery Translational Research, Andy Kramer-Community Engagement and Mark Geraci-Technology), to the many faculty members throughout the University of Colorado Denver and elsewhere who actively and generously participated on key committees and in many other ways.
New Fellows of the American College of Physicians-the following faculty members have been elected as Fellows in the American College of Physicians in 2008: Eva Aagaard, Suzanne Brandenburg, Karen Chacko, Eric Coleman, David Collier, Lisa Cyran, Steve Dreskin, Mark Earnest, Jim Fisher, Joel Garcia, Jeff Glasheen, Mike Glode, Rene Gonzalez, Bryan Haugen, Stuart Linas, Carlin Long, Tom MacKenzie, Bob Mason, Luisa Mestroni, Han Myint, Randall Reves, David Spiegel, John Steiner, Jim Trotter, Howard Weinberger, and Marty Zamora.
