Colorado School of Public Health News and Stories

If one goes in search of a stark public health problem, it’s difficult to avoid rates of hypertension in the Black community. The disease threatens all groups, but the percentage of Black adults with high blood pressure (at 59%) is by far the highest. In the relatively healthier state of Colorado, the incidence of high blood pressure among Blacks is much lower (at 34%), but it is still the highest by far among all groups in the state.

Tyler Smith | December 19, 2023

The Colorado School of Public Health’s Center for Public Health Practice recently received a generous donation from The Colorado Health Foundation to bolster the Center's efforts to engage and support queer youth throughout rural Colorado.

Colorado School of Public Health | December 07, 2023

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) recently named a new chief medical officer who is also a familiar face.

Tyler Smith | July 25, 2023

A well-established pillar of Colorado’s healthcare system received powerful additional support in late April with bipartisan passage of Colorado SB23-002. The bill will allow Medicaid reimbursement for some services provided by community health workers (CHWs), who help to connect patients to vital healthcare and community services, provide education, and decrease barriers to care, among other tasks. CHWs often go by a variety titles, including health navigators and lay health workers.

Tyler Smith | June 13, 2023

On January 12, 2023, the Center for Health, Work & Environment (CHWE) at the Colorado School of Public Health (ColoradoSPH), along with the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention, concluded the first phase of its Recovery Friendly Workplace (RFW) peer learning series – a four-part virtual workshop for Colorado business leaders. Nominated participants represented a range of industries including healthcare, restaurants, hospitality, construction/utilities, local government, and education.

Colorado School of Public Health | February 13, 2023

In the abstract, the term “human trafficking” may conjure shadowy images of vulnerable individuals forced into sex work or people enduring long, dangerous journeys on the promise of steady jobs, only to be consigned to low-paying, abusive work. The reality is far more complex, as Patricia Valverde discovered three years ago. 

Tyler Smith | April 06, 2022

Trainees from our Mountain & Plains Education and Research Center (MAP ERC) recently took an old-school field trip to Colorado Springs. After driving an hour and a half south of the CU Anschutz Medical Campus and trying to drive through the wrong base entrance, they arrived at the visitor’s center of Fort Carson Army Base.

Laura Veith | March 29, 2022

The pandemic has made public knowledge of something those of us in occupational safety and health have known for quite some time: employee mental health matters. It also cannot be improved without great attention and effort. A workplace culture that promotes mental health awareness demands both organizational support and individual commitment.

David Shapiro | July 15, 2021

The Center for Health, Work & Environment wants to make sure small businesses are not left out of the conversation when it comes to return to work. In a recent webinar, A Safer Return for Small Employers, the Center invited John Dony, senior director of Thought Leadership from the National Safety Council (NSC), to speak to small employers specifically about returning to work after COVID-19.

Laura Veith | July 07, 2021

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, University of Northern Colorado (UNC) students in the Master of Public Health (MPH) program would typically spend their first year attending night classes, in study groups with friends or cramming for an exam at a coffee shop. For the incoming cohort of 2020, the largest in recent years, earning a graduate degree online in a global pandemic has been anything but typical.

Rose Grose | April 02, 2021

As the Colorado School of Public Health-led modeling team considers potential trajectories of the COVID-19 pandemic, they base their forecasts on the levels of success of a few different containment strategies. Many cities and counties in Colorado have now implemented mask orders, businesses are required to maintain certain levels of social distancing as they reopen, and older adults are continuing to stay home. The state moved into the Safer-At-Home and Protect-Our-Neighbors phases while strengthening the fourth piece: aggressive case detection and containment through contact tracing.

Tori Forsheim | July 17, 2020

It’s a heartbreaking statistic: African-American/black infants in Colorado are two-and-a-half times more likely to die before their first birthday than white infants. The number frames two complicated questions: why the disparity and how to eliminate it?

Tyler Smith | January 09, 2019