PRiSM Reviews, Building Our Brand, Endo Head Search + Department Wins

Dear Colleagues,

Each January and February, the School of Medicine facilitates the annual PRiSM review for faculty and the equivalent annual check-in for staff. Like all faculty, I also go through this process with our Dean. For years, I have embraced the gift that is feedback and the opportunity to grow. These sessions should operate as a platform for open conversation regarding improvement, strengths and hopes for the future. As I begin the process of reviewing my direct reports, I am reminded of the incredible work that our leaders put into this each year for the benefit not only of the individuals they guide, but the teams they support. I encourage you to make effort in your own evaluation, as with so many labors – it is very much a product of the energy invested.As I mentioned in my State of the Department, building our national brand and reputation is a key goal of my chairmanship. To that end, Dr. Michael Ho, Vice Chair for Quality, and his team have been hard at work developing a robust strategy for increasing our U.S. News & World Report rankings over the next few years. This work can only be done if our faculty, UCHealth colleagues and alumni vote for the department as a stand out leader. As mentioned at the division heads' meeting this week, much of this effort will be focused this year on that first group: you, our faculty! Please take a moment to learn more about Voting for U.S. News & World Report Hospital Ranking, register for Doximity and vote!

The Endocrinology Division Head search is well underway and our first two candidates will present their vision for the division at upcoming town halls on Jan. 25 and Feb. 3. We look forward to seeing you there and please do look for emails to solicit your feedback to inform next steps.

I also want to share some major achievements by our faculty in the past month. Drs. Earnest and Morris from the Division of General Internal Medicine both had perspective pieces published recently in The New England Journal of Medicine – “Engineering for Grief,” by Mark Earnest, MD, PhD and “Death by Ableism,” by Megan A. Morris, PhD, MPH. These two articles, which I highly encourage you to read, speak well to the compassion and humanistic components that are the culture our faculty espouse in the department. From Dean Reilly’s State of the School Address on Jan. 11, I was honored to learn that four of the seven Distinguished Physician and APP Awards named by the University of Colorado School of Medicine are from our department. This award – in its inaugural year – recognizes outstanding physicians and advanced practice providers in their exceptional clinical expertise, service, patient-centered behaviors and professionalism. Congratulations to Keri Halsema, NP, MSN, RN, Glen Peterson, DNP, ACNP, RN, Manali Kamdar, MD and Mike McDermott, MD. We are incredibly fortunate to have you in this department!

Lastly, I am pleased to write that many of our staff and faculty received compression funds adjustments to better align their salaries with market rates. I have received many individual notes of gratitude regarding these adjustments, am grateful that we were able to do this, and want to thank the hard work by our division administrators, finance and HR teams to identify inequities in compensation.

Onwards! 

Vineet