Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) News and Stories

Though many Coloradans are proceeding as though the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the virus continues to circulate, evolve and have an impact—especially for older adults and those with underlying medical conditions. Furthermore, because of the evolution of variants, doctors have fewer treatment options.

Wendy Meyer | February 10, 2023

Two years ago, many of us had never worked from home. Our research required the use of a laboratory, or interaction with colleagues, patients or communities. Our teaching and mentoring required face-to-face interaction with students or trainees. The COVID-19 pandemic turned all this upside down. In March 2020, tens of millions of American workers were instructed to work from home to prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. University campuses and healthcare systems closed academic offices and laboratories and directed scientists and staff to continue their work remotely if possible. We did not think this would last for long. However, here we are over two years later, and remote/hybrid (some office, some home) work continues for many.

Heather M. Gilmartin | September 27, 2022

Melissa Haendel, PhD, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and her team of data scientists have been working at a lightning-fast pace for two years, unlocking some of the mysteries of long COVID. Not only have they been instrumental in the development of the largest national, publicly available HIPAA-limited dataset in U.S. history – the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) – but their research using the data is making headlines and getting the attention of the White House.

Wendy Meyer | July 20, 2022

The massive volume of messages we all have received about COVID-19 led the World Health Organization to coin the term “infodemic”: too much information, including false or misleading messages, in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak. Though academics will be studying the toll of this misinformation for many years to come, we know it has been massive.

Wendy Meyer | June 07, 2022

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has invested nearly $470 million to build a national study population of diverse research volunteers and support large-scale studies on the long-term effects of COVID-19. The Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) is playing a major role in the initiative called REsearching COVID to Enhance Recovery or RECOVER.

Wendy Meyer | February 07, 2022

In March of 2020, the pandemic drove Coloradans to enter lockdown mode. This was no different for researchers on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. The result was that research operations were completely shuttered unless they were related to COVID-19 or essential to patient care.

Wendy Meyer | September 14, 2021

March 5, 2020 marked the anniversary of the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Colorado. Just a few days later, on March 10, Governor Polis declared a state of emergency and soon thereafter most of us were working from home and living in full pandemic mode.

Wendy Meyer | June 24, 2021

As Colorado surpasses a 47 percent rate of its population being fully immunized (with 12 counties surpassing 70 percent), researchers continue to expand the study of the vaccines on children as young as five years old. The Pediatric Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC) and its nursing staff are playing a major role.

Wendy Meyer | June 24, 2021

In vaccine clinical trials, the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were shown to be about 95%  effective in preventing COVID-19. Now a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses real-world data to show that indeed, those who are 65 years and older who are fully vaccinated are 94% percent less likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 than those who have not been vaccinated. Researchers enrolled hospitalized patients from 20 hospitals across the nation—including UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital.

Wendy Meyer | May 11, 2021

The nation has been coping with the pandemic for more than a year, and in this time, researchers have learned a great deal about how to treat COVID-19. Yet they have also been faced with what they still must learn, including how to reach the individuals who have been most dramatically impacted by the disease and who could benefit the most from new treatments. 

Wendy Meyer | March 30, 2021

Associate Professor of Medicine Lilia Cervantes, MD is a homegrown success story, a physician researcher and a changemaker. Growing up in Denver and receiving her undergraduate degree from CU Boulder, she went on to earn her medical degree and complete her internal medicine residency at the CU School of Medicine. For the past 12 years, she has worked as an internal medicine hospitalist at Denver Health, the safety-net hospital in Denver. Dr. Cervantes’ research describes the worse outcomes of undocumented immigrants with kidney failure who rely only on emergency dialysis. As a result of Dr. Cervantes’ research and advocacy, in 2019 Colorado Medicaid opted to include the diagnosis of kidney failure as a qualifying condition under Emergency Medicaid, expanding access to standard dialysis. Recently, she published a qualitative study on the experiences of Latinx individuals hospitalized for COVID-19.

Wendy Meyer | March 30, 2021

One year ago, CCTSI researchers and staff were told to continue our programs of research from home to keep ourselves, our colleagues, families and communities safe from COVID-19. Books and files were collected, labs were closed, clinical trials were put on hold, teaching and program management were moved online. Makeshift offices were created in closets, bedrooms, garages and on kitchen counters. I found myself at home with my husband and two teenagers. I continued my research where I could and connected with colleagues over Zoom while supporting my family through the COVID-19 lockdown.

Heather M. Gilmartin | March 30, 2021