The Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver
Fourth Quarter 2009 News
Here are some updates:
Eric Coleman, M.D., M.S.P.H. (Health Care Policy and Research) was recently notified of his receipt of the Maxwell A. Pollack Award for Productive Aging from the Gerontological Society of America for 2009. The Maxwell A. Pollack Award is given annually for translation of innovative programs into practical application or policy that contribute to meeting the critical needs of the older population in new and creative ways.
Tom Tsai, M.D. (Cardiology, Denver VA) is the first author of a clinical problem solving article in the September 3rd, 2009 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine (A Change of Heart, 2009;361:1010-6).
For the second consecutive year, a faculty member from our Division of General Internal Medicine has been selected for the cover of the 5280 Magazine’s annual Top Doctors issue (October, 2009). Mark Earnest, M.D., on this year’s cover, is an Associate Professor in the Division and well known not only for his expertise as an excellent clinician but also for his initiation and leadership of our “Leadership, Advocacy and Development Program” (LEADS) as well as his personal advocacy for the un- and underinsured. Last year, Jean Kutner, M.D., Division Head, was featured on the cover. Other members of the Department’s faculty cited in this Top Doctor’s issue include:
Adolescent Medicine-Chris Gilroy (PSL/Health1)
Allergy-Rohit Katial (NJH)
Cardiovascular-JoAnn Lindenfeld and Howard Weinberger (NJH)
Electrophysiology-Will Sauer
Critical Care-Todd Bull, Ivor Douglas (DHHA), Steve Frankel (NJH/Rose),
and Michael Schwartz (NJH/Rose)
Endocrinology-Dan Bessesen (DHHA), Bob Eckel, Jennifer Janssen (NJH), and
Mike McDermott
Geriatrics-Jeff Wallace and Robin Yasui (DHHA)
Hematology-Kathy Hassell
Palliative Care-Jean Kutner
Infectious Diseases-Steve Johnson
Internal Medicine-Mark Earnest, Larry Feinberg, Phil Mehler (DHHA), and David Tanaka
Interventional Cardiology-John Carroll and John Messenger
Medical Genetics-Matt Taylor
Nephrology-Stu Linas (DHHA), and Isaac Teitelbaum
Occupational Medicine- E. Bridgette Gottschall (NJH), Lisa Maier (NJH) and
Cecile Rose (NJH)
Rheumatology-Richard Meehan (NJH) and Sterling West
Sleep Medicine-Teofilo Lee-Chiong (NJH)
Transplant Hepatology-Greg Everson
Many of our divisions continue to do extremely well in the current constrained extra-mural granting environment. For example, in the past few months, members of the Pulmonary/Critical Care Division have garnered more than 8.5 $ M in new NIH funding. These individuals include: Andrew Fontenot and Sonia Flores, along with Tom Campbell of Infectious Diseases (Alterations in Lung Microbiome in Acute and Chronic HIV Infection); Rubin Tuder (Zipcode Based Nano-imaging of Hypertensive Pulmonary Arteries); Marc Moss (The Diagnosis and Treatment of Critical Illness Polyneuropathy); Mark Geraci, Rubin Tuder and Ivor Douglas (Molecular Physiology Core Applied to Acute Lung Injury); David Schwartz and Mark Geraci (Lung Genomics Research Consortium); and Rob Winn (The Effect of WNT Pathway in Signaling in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer).
Robert Schrier, M.D., former Department Chair for 26 years, is the senior author of a Medical Progress article entitled “Renal Failure in Cirrhosis” that appeared in the 24 September 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (361:1279-1290).
Charles Dinarello, M.D. (Infectious Diseases) was recently notified of his receipt of the 2010 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize. This is the most prestigious international prize awarded in the Federal Republic of Germany in medicine and is being given for Dr. Dinarello’s contributions to the elucidation of modulators of the inflammatory reaction. The recognition, which carries with it a $140,000 award, will be presented on 14 March 2010. This is the third major international award/prize garnered by Dr. Dinarello this year. Previous awards include the Royal Academy of Sciences Crafoord Prize and the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research. Dr. Dinarello generously donates prize money to the non-profit “Interleukin Foundation” which supports biomedical researchers.
Please extend your congratulations to the following Departmental faculty members who were promoted to Associate Professor in the academic year ending 30 June 2009: Alicia Appel (General Internal Medicine, DHHA), Michelle Barron (ID), Virginia Borges (Medical Oncology), Chris Coldren (Pulmonary), Sarah Faubel (Renal), Lucy Golden (Gastroenterology/Hepatology), Wendee Gozansky (Geriatrics), Michael Ho (Cardiology, VA), Soo-Hyun Kim (Renal), Kerrie Moreau (Geriatrics), Ali Musani (Pulmonary, NJH), Takahiko Nakagawa (Renal), Connie Price (ID, DHHA), Tiffany Radcliff (Health Care Policy and Research), Carol Sartorius (Endocrinology), Josh Thurman (Renal), and Javier Waksman (General Internal Medicine).
Please offer your congratulations to the following Departmental faculty who were promoted to Professor in the academic year ending 30 June 2009: Kevin Brown (Pulmonary, NJH), William Burman (ID, DHHA), Tom Campbell (ID), Dan Chan (Medical Oncology), Andrew Fontenot (Allergy/Clinical Immunology), Jean Kutner (General Internal Medicine), Cecile Rose (Occupational Medicine, NJH), John Rumsfeld (Cardiology, VA), Pepper Schedin (Medical Oncology) and Jeff Wallace (Geriatrics). In addition the appointments of Rick Johnson (Renal) and David Schwartz (Pulmonary, NJH) at the professorial level were approved.
Karen Chacko, M.D. (General Internal Medicine, Associate Housestaff Program Director for Primary Care) was recently notified of her receipt of a 3-year, 1.5 $M HRSA grant to support a Sickle Cell Medical Home initiative throughout Colorado. Collaborators on this project include Linda Overholser (General Internal Medicine), Kathy Hassell (Hematology) and Rachelle Nuss (Pediatric Hematology/Oncology).
Wells Messersmith, M.D. (Medical Oncology) was recently notified that he will receive funding for the National Cancer Institute Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award. This highly competitive award is designed to provide administrative supplemental funding for outstanding clinical investigators at NCI Cancer Centers.
Two members of our Division of General Internal Medicine, Eva Aagaard, M.D. (Vice Chair for Education) and Mel Anderson, M.D. (VA) were honored at the School of Medicine’s ceremony on 13 August 2009 as new faculty inductees into the Gold Humanism Honor Society based upon a vote of the medical student body.
Several Departmental faculty members are receiving notices of significant ARRA funding. For example, Hugo Rosen, M.D. (Waterman Professor and Head, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology) recently received notification of a two-year 1 $M total ARRA award to study the immune responses to hepatitis C. Simultaneously, Hugo also learned that he is a co-author on manuscripts accepted for J Clin Invest and Nature-altogether, not a bad week!
Kate Horwitz, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor (Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes) recently received $650,000 from the Avon Foundation to continue her breast cancer research program.
National Jewish Health Center has announced several administrative changes. David Schwartz, M.D., has been appointed to a newly created position of Provost to which three Departments (Medicine, Immunology and Pediatrics) will report. The reorganization is designed to enhance clinical and translational research collaborations. Dr. Schwartz has participated in several School of Medicine and Department of Medicine programs and currently has more than 6 $M in active grants. Dr. Rand Sutherland has been promoted to the position of Chief of the Pulmonary Division within the Department of Medicine at National Jewish. Jeff Kern, M.D., currently Chief of the Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Division at Case Western Reserve, has been recruited to lead the National Jewish Lung Cancer Program and will start in November, 2009.
At Presbyterian/St. Luke’s, Brian Dwinnell is Director of Medical Education. In this role Brian serves as not only Site Director for the Primary Care Training Program, but also Director of the Transitional Housestaff Program. PSL is developing a new ambulatory care clinic for its faculty and primary care housestaff in the physicians office building adjacent to the hospital. The Hospitalist Program at PSL now has six faculty members (Jonathan Manheim, Melanie Stickrath, Rachel Groff, Sandy Durrani, Alexis Shanahan and Ingeborg Sacksen) who, in addition to seven full-time members on its inpatient and ambulatory care teaching faculty (Brian Dwinnell, Jennifer Tamblyn, Jeff Pickard, Chris Gilroy, Julie Rifkin, Rick Miranda and Anjali Dhurandhar), combine to form an outstanding educational and clinical care team.
Cardiac CTA/ Chest Pain Program-Jamal Moloo, M.D. and several collaborators from Cardiology, Radiology, our Hospitalist Program and the ED (Drs. Evans, Larabee, Buttrick, Glasheen, Durham, Furfari, Dodd and Rosenthal) have established a program that rapidly evaluates chest pain. More than 2,700 patients are seen in our ED annually for chest pain. This program utilizes, when appropriate, cardiac CT angiography. An analysis of the program to date reveals that 75% of patients who would have been admitted were discharged directly from the ED decreasing LOS from 1.3 days to 7 hours.
Third Quarter 2009 News
The US News and World Report rankings of more than 5,400 U.S. Hospitals is published annually in July. National Jewish was again ranked the top U.S. Hospital for Respiratory Disorders. Among medical specialties, the following Departmental Divisions were ranked in the top 30: Pulmonary – 12th, Renal – 15th, Rheumatology – 19th, and Endocrinology – 30th.
Attached find some recent significant achievements by some of our faculty members:
Liron Caplan, M.D. (Rheumatology) recently received a five-year VA Career Development Award ($924,000) and a three-year American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Investigator Award. Since these awards overlap, Liron had to decline acceptance of the ACR Award.
Jose Castillo-Mancilla, M.D. (Infectious Diseases) was highlighted by the National Minority Clinical Research Association Network as its featured member for the month of August for his efforts with regard to HIV prevention and treatment in the Latino community.
David West, Ph.D. (General Internal Medicine) is the senior author of an authoritative article that will appear in the 1 September 2009 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine regarding practice-based networks and comparative effectiveness research (“An electronic practice-based network for observational comparative effectiveness research” 2009;151, issue number 5).
Robert Schrier, M.D. (Renal Diseases and Hypertension, former Department Chair for 26 years) was recently awarded a 3.5 $ M five year NIH grant for work in polycystic kidney diseases.
S. James Chen, Ph.D. and John Carroll, M.D. (Cardiology) edited and several colleagues contributed (Eugenia Carroll, Joel Garcia, Ivan Casserly, John Messenger, Andrew Klein) to an article in the most recent issue of The Cardiology Clinics (August, 2009, vol. 27) entitled “Advances in Coronary Angiography.”
David Bekelman, M.D. (General Internal Medicine) received a 5-year VA Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D) Career Development Award for a project entitled, “Improving Symptoms and Quality of Life in Veterans with Chronic Heart Failure.”
Heidi Wald, M.D. (Health Care Policy and Research) has been the recipient of two terrific awards recently. The first is a highly competitive Beeson Career Development Award (K23) from the National Institutes of Aging and the second is her selection into the Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program. This national program is Supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies and administered by Columbia University.
Marvin Schwarz, M.D. (Pulmonary and Critical Care, former long-time Division Head) is the PI of the Division’s Training Grant that was the highest rated in the nation and received an unprecedented perfect score.
Jeanette Guerrasio, M.D. (General Internal Medicine/Hospitalist Group) has been named the new Foundations of Doctoring Curriculum Associate Director for Physical Examination within the School of Medicine.
Maggie Wierman (Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes) was recently honored as the 2009 recipient of the Sidney Ingbar Distinguished Service Award by the Endocrine Society at their annual meeting.
Charles Dinarello (Infectious Diseases) is the author of an editorial entitled “Interleukin-1B and the Autoinflammatory Diseases” in the most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (2009;360:2467-2470).
Philip Mehler, MD, (DHHA, General Internal Medicine), Chief Medical Officer at Denver Health and the Glassman Endowed Chair of Medicine, received the Silver and Gold Award, the highest award that our School of Medicine Alumni Association bestows.
Dan Bessesen, MD, ‘82, Professor of Medicine (DHHA, Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes) received the School of Medicine Alumni Association’s Distinguished Achievement Award at the School’s annual commencement exercise.
Obtaining a first RO1, especially in a Division of General Internal Medicine, is a significant achievement. Judy Zerzan, MD, MPH, was recently notified that her R01 entitled “Sedative Hypnotic Use by the Mentally Ill: A Medicaid Prescription Policy Study” will be funded for three years with a total amount of $410,000.
The June 11, 2009 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine features a Clinical Problem-Solving vignette (Kiss of Death 2009;360:2564-2568) about a patient seen recently at University Hospital. The vignette is co-authored by two members of our Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine (Brian Graham, MD, first author and William Janssen, MD, National Jewish, senior author).
Service as a regular member of an NIH Study Section is an important responsibility and a significant acknowledgement of scientific credibility and accomplishment. Recently, Mary Weiser-Evans, PhD (Renal) was appointed as a regular member of the NIH’s Vascular Cell and Molecular Biology Study Section.
Kate Horwitz, PhD (Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes) has been selected to receive the 2010 Fred Conrad Koch Award from the Endocrine Society. This is a well-deserved honor in recognition of Kate’s contributions to the “excellence, breadth and depth of endocrinology and the Endocrine Society. This award will be presented at the 2010 meeting of the Endocrine Society.”
Cathy Klein, MD (Medical Oncology, Denver VA) has recently been appointed Head of the Section of Medical Oncology at the Denver VA. For many years, Cathy has served as Director of the Medical Oncology Fellowship Training Program and in the Medical Oncology and Ambulatory Care sections of the Denver VA.
The University of Colorado Hospital has opened up 18 additional general medical surgical beds on the seventh floor. UCH’s census remains high and these beds have been nearly full. UCH continues to operate financially in a positive manner with a significant positive margin being achieved on a monthly basis.
Click on the image to read the latest edition of The Murmur
The Department has no faculty member who is more quoted or more honored than Charles Dinarello, M.D. (Infectious Diseases). Dr. Dinarello’s most recent honor is sharing (with Ralph Steinman of Rockefeller University and Bruce Beutler of the Scripps Research Institute) the largest cash award in medicine or science in the United States (The Albany Medical Center Prize for $500,000). Dr. Dinarello was recognized for his discoveries “which led to a dramatically better understanding of the human immune system in health and disease” and specifically his work on cytokine biology. This is the 9th year the Albany Medical Center prize has been given and Dr. Dinarello received his award in Albany on 24 April 2009. Dr. Dinarello’s work has also resulted in his being named the world’s fourth most cited scientist in the years 1983-2002 by the Institute for Scientific Information. As noted in a previous communication from the Department, Dr. Dinarello also shared the $500,000 Crafoord Prize for 2009 from the Swedish Academy of Science.
Wendy Kohrt, Ph.D. (Geriatrics) has been selected to co-chair the steering committee for NASA’s “Decadal Study in Physical and Biological Space Research”. This steering committee will oversee multiple committees that will plan the scientific path for NASA for the next 10 years. The study is sponsored by the National Academies.
Tom Maddox, M.D. (Cardiology, Denver VA) is the recipient of the American College of Cardiology’s 2009 National Young Investigator Award. Dr. Maddox received this award at the 2009 meeting of the American College of Cardiology. Tom is a member of the “Outcomes Group” in the Cardiology Division at the Denver VA, Denver Health and Hospitals and UCH.
We are very fortunate to have several national experts within the Department. One such national figure is Eric Coleman, M.D., MPH (Health Care Policy and Research) who is the nation’s leading expert in “transitions of care.” In the 2 April edition of The New England Journal of Medicine, you will find an excellent article entitled “Rehospitalizations among Patients in the Medicare Fee-for Service Program” (2009;360:1418-1428) on which Eric Coleman is the senior author. This article was featured in the Sunday edition of the New York Times and picked up and widely disseminated by the Associated Press.
Chip Ridgway, M.D. (Endocrinology), Frederic Hamilton Endowed Chair, Vice Chair of the Department and Senior Associate Dean, Research will receive the Robert H. Williams Distinguished Leadership Award from the Endocrine Society in June, 2009. This Award is presented in recognition of outstanding leadership in fundamental or clinical endocrinology as exemplified by the recipient's contributions, and those of his trainees and associates, to teaching, research, and administration. Chip led the Department’s Endocrinology Division for 22 years.
Two Departmental Housestaff (Alexandra Smart and Eric Young) are among the five winners of this year’s Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching awards, as selected by the UC medical student body, for 2009. The Department is proud not only of Drs. Smart and Young, but also of fifteen additional Departmental housestaff who were nominated for this award (Drs. Lindsey Davis, Matthew Eadens, Richard Fuquay, Kevin Hartman, Benjamin Heinzen, Daniel Heppe, James Kolbeck, Jennifer Koval, Lisa LeMond, Ryan McWilliams, Sasan Mirfakhraee, Niraj Patel, Elizabeth Riley, Shabnam Showell, and Chad Stickrath). These houseofficers collectively represent about half of all nominees for these awards.
Patricia Gabow, M.D. is a long-time member of the Department who has been Chief Executive Officer at Denver Health for many years. Under Dr. Gabow’s leadership, Denver Health has become one of the nation’s model integrated health care delivery systems and safety-net hospitals. Dr. Patricia Gabow’s multiple, long-standing contributions will be recognized by the University of Colorado Board of Regents with the award of a Regents Honorary Degree at the Anschutz Medical Campus Commencement on May 22, 2009.
The “Outcomes Group” in the Cardiology Division at the Denver VA, Denver Health and Hospitals and UCH is collectively exceptionally strong and well-recognized. One productive member of this group, Fred Masoudi, M.D. (Cardiology, Denver Health) is a co-author of a large study in the most recent issue of JAMA (Relationship between spontaneous and iatrogenic hypoglycemia and mortality in patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction, 2009;301:1556-1564).
To see news from previous quarters, please click here
Departmental National Leadership Positions
The Department is blessed with a talented faculty. Four of our Professor faculty members have, either currently or in the recent past, held significant national leadership positions. These include:
Robert Eckel, MD - Past-President, American Heart Association
Tomas Berl, MD - Past-President, American Society of Nephrology
E. Chester Ridgway, MD - Past-President, Endocrine Society
Paul Bunn, MD - Past-President, American Society of Clinical Oncology
Volunteer Clinical Faculty List
- A new listing for the volunteer clinical faculty has been launched. Volunteer clinical faculty can be looked up here or via the link to the left.
Mission
Building on a rich tradition of excellence, we are moving forward with new initiatives designed to build on the strengths of our faculty. We take our three-part mission of patient care, medical education and research seriously.
- Education
- The Department’s educational initiatives are overseen by Eva Aagaard, M.D., Vice Chair of Education. Eva is a creative and experienced medical educator who not only provides direction for all of our educational programs, but also directly oversees our student programs. The Department has a rich tradition of excellence in housestaff and fellowship education. Suzanne Brandenburg, M.D., directs our Housestaff Program which has categorical, primary care, hospitalist and research training tracks. Suzanne is very ably assisted by five Associate Housestaff Program Directors including Mel Anderson, M.D. (lifelong learning and mentoring), Virginia Borges, M.D. (housestaff research), Jeff Glasheen, M.D. (hospitalist training), Diana Mancini, M.D (Resident mentorship), and Karen Chacko, M.D. (primary care training). The department has 13 T32 fellowship training grants and supervises a K30 Masters and PhD program in Clinical Sciences.
- Clinical Care
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Clinical care is provided at six hospitals affiliated with our training program: University Hospital (tertiary referral), Veterans Affairs Medical Center (comprehensive in- and outpatient veterans care), Denver Health Medical Center (underserved primary and referral care and level 1 trauma care), two excellent private hospitals (Rose Medical Center and Presbyterian-St. Luke’s) and National Jewish Hospital (pulmonary, immunological and mycobacterial care). Active hospitalist and intensivist services provide 24/7 care and education at the core hospitals. Experiences at these centers ensures exposure to diverse clinical challenges, patient populations, and practice settings.
The University Hospital, along with the entire University of Colorado Denver and The Children’s Hospital, has recently moved to an entirely new 4 billion dollar Anschutz Medical Center at the former site of the Fitzsimons Army Center in Aurora Colorado. A new 390 bed hospital, a seven story ambulatory facility, Cancer Center, Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Institute, Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes Mellitus, Native American Health Center as well as a host of educational and research facilities are now fully operational on this campus.
The Department’s clinical revenues are expanding at a 10% annual rate and have reached record highs for each of the past five years.
- Research
- The Department has a very successful track record in biomedical research.
We were most recently ranked 16th nationally in research funding from the NIH. Faculty
members within the Department of Medicine currently are the principal investigators
on more than $85 million of research funding. Department of Medicine faculty
are also the lead investigators on an additional $14.5 million of inter-disciplinary
center funding. Collectively, grants obtained by the Department of Medicine
faculty account for 30% of all School of Medicine research funding. The Department moved into all new research space at the Anschutz campus in the spring of 2008.
Each Division has a diverse and vibrant externally funded research program and fellowship training program. Our Department has active research programs for not only our faculty but also for our fellows, housestaff and medical students. The Department also has an innovative program in Clinical Sciences leading to either a Master or a PhD degree. In addition, we have 33 endowed Chairs ($65 million), the endowed Temple Hoyne Buell Heart Center, and a federally-designated Cancer Center enabling us to pursue new understanding and treatment of diseases that are afflicting millions of Americans. - Our Faculty
- Our faculty is our strength. We currently have 500 full-time faculty (about 95 of these are PhDs) and 600 volunteer faculty. There are many faculty who hold leadership positions in their national and international specialty societies and on editorial boards, as well as those faculty who are members of prestigious medical research societies, such as the Association of American Physicians (31), American Society for Clinical Investigation (34), Western Association of Physicians (42), and the Western Society for Clinical Investigation (70). There are also an impressive number of Department faculty who hold leadership positions at the School of Medicine, the University of Colorado Denver, and the affiliated institutions.
Our Current Divisional Leadership:
Allergy and Clinical Immunology - Andrew Fontenot, MD
Cardiology - Peter Buttrick, MD
Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology - Curt Freed, MD
Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes - Bryan R. Haugen, MD
Gastroenterology and Hepatology - Hugo Rosen, MD
Geriatrics - Robert Schwartz, MD
Health Care Policy and Research - Andrew Kramer, MD
Hematology - Robert Allen, MD and Sally Stabler, MD (Co-division heads)
Infectious Diseases - Thomas Campbell, MD - interim
General Internal Medicine - Jean Kutner, MD
Medical Oncology - Gail Eckhardt, MD
Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine - Mark Geraci, MD
Renal Diseases and Hypertension - Richard Johnson, MD
Rheumatology - V. Michael Holers, MD
We are very proud of these accomplishments and hope you will spend some time reviewing the information provided. We are looking forward to the continued evolution of our department as we strive to become the best we can be. Thank you for visiting our site.
Robert J. Anderson, M.D.
Meiklejohn Professor of Medicine
Chair, Department of Medicine
Last update 10/26/09
