Growing up in Iowa, Jason Kolfenbach, MD, might not have seemed the most likely person to pursue a medical career. He did not come from a family of physicians. In fact, he was the first in his blue-collar family to go to college.
“But I was intrigued by science when I was in high school, and the father of a guy I swam with [Dr. Larry Kukla] was an oncologist,” he says. “He was down to earth, bright, and seemed excited about his job. I worked with him a bit during the summer in high school to get an idea of what it meant to be in medicine, because I hadn’t had any first-hand exposure. I really loved the relationships that he made with his patients. He got a lot of enjoyment from what he did. That spurred me when I got to college to pursue health sciences, because I had a good idea I wanted to work in a medical setting.”
It was a fork in a road that led Kolfenbach to become a nationally esteemed rheumatologist, and one of 21 University of Colorado Department of Medicine faculty members to be honored for their clinical work as the inaugural class of the department’s Clinical Excellence Society (CES).
“When I think about why I became a physician, it’s because of patient care, so it’s a real honor to be recognized for that,” says Kolfenbach, an associate professor in the Division of Rheumatology.
Learning from patients
Like his teammate’s father, Kolfenbach develops close and supportive relationships with his patients – relationships forged over many years given the realities of rheumatic disease, which encompasses a host of systemic autoimmune diseases and inflammatory forms of arthritis.
“It’s a field where I take care of patients with, for lack of a better word, a chronic disease, a disease that we don’t currently have a cure for,” he says. “It means I will follow with my patients for the duration of their life, most likely. And it’s a privilege to be able to do that. In those years, you are able to develop a sense of trust with your patients that really enhances the care we are able to provide.”
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“Dr. Kolfenbach is an incredibly great doctor,” one of his patients wrote on a feedback form. “He listens well during my visit and discusses my care in great detail. He ensures I’m agreeable with the plan he has orchestrated for me; he has done this since I started seeing him nine years ago. I often leave my appointment feeling Dr. K must have spent hours reviewing my history and coming up with a plan on how we will proceed. He is genuinely interested in my success. I am truly impressed with Dr. Kolfenbach’s knowledge and experience. I trust him with my life!”
There are clinical benefits to having long-term experience with patients, Kolfenbach says. “In making a diagnosis, it can be helpful. Patients describe symptoms in unique ways, and when I’ve followed somebody a long time, if a patient’s telling me about hand pain in a different way than before, for example, I know something new is occurring that we need to investigate. We learn from our patients.”
‘Incredible depth’
In her letter nominating Kolfenbach for the CES, rheumatology division head Kristi Kuhn, MD, PhD, cited “his incredible depth of clinical knowledge.” And Sterling West, MD, rheumatology professor emeritus and one of Kolfenbach’s foremost mentors, said in a supporting letter: “He is an excellent clinician, and I would not hesitate to recommend or send one of my family members to him for care.”
As important as clinical work is to Kolfenbach, he also is deeply involved in passing along what he knows to others. In 2023 he was named associate division head of education, and he is the rheumatology fellowship program director. For nearly a decade he has arranged the division’s weekly Grand Rounds sessions. He and West are also co-editors of Rheumatology Secrets, which Kuhn describes as “the ‘bible’ for rheumatology trainees studying for boards exams as well as a quick reference for clinicians in practice.”
It’s an exciting time to be a rheumatologist, says Kolfenbach. “We’ve had so many developments and advances over the last 20 years. You can’t watch a TV show these days without seeing an ad for Humira or some other medication used to treat rheumatic disease.”
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Asked about his philosophy of caring for a patient, Kolfenbach says: “Our patients deserve our full effort and attention. If I don’t know an answer, it’s my job to figure it out, even if that means pulling in other consultants to try to help me with a complex problem.”
He adds: “I’m also here to help navigate my patients through the health care system, from making a diagnosis, to ensuring a patient gets access to the medications they need, and lining them up with an appointment in our Infusion Center if that’s what they need. It’s a complex system where hurdles at any point can represent an obstacle to patients getting the care they need. As physicians, we need to shepherd patients through this process, be advocates for them, and help navigate these barriers to care. At the end of the day, the buck stops with me, and I view this is part of the responsibility of being a doctor.”
And as for advice for young clinicians, he says: “There’s no replacement for seeing a lot of patients to become an expert at anything. You wouldn’t want to buy a table from a woodworker if it’s only the third time they’ve ever made a table. You want someone who’s done it a lot.”
Photo at top: Jason Kolfenbach, MD (center) is inducted into the CU Department of Medicine's Clinical Excellence Society by department Chair Vineet Chopra, MD, MSc (left) and John Carethers, MD, vice chancellor for health sciences at the University of California, San Diego at a ceremony on February 8, 2024. Photo by Paul Wedlake for the CU Department of Medicine.
