Department of Surgery News and Stories

In 2021, a Crested Butte family received a life-changing diagnosis. During the holiday season, their story is an apparent reminder that sometimes the best gifts are never found under a tree.

Back on Feb. 25, competing in a chess tournament was only a hope for Griffin McConnell, now 17, of Golden. Doctors had just finished his second hemispherectomy, a procedure that disconnects the left and right side of the brain and causes some paralysis. The brain surgery was Griffin’s fourth since being diagnosed at age 5 with epilepsy.

UCHealth ranked in the top 50 nationally for gastroenterology; ear, nose and throat care; adult diabetes and endocrinology; cancer treatment; urology; and rheumatology.

Compared with non-Hispanic White Americans, Hispanic Americans receive disproportionally fewer organ transplants. In 2018, the Hispanic Transplant Clinic was established at the University of Colorado. Madhura Pande and colleagues at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, conducted a study to examine the efficacy of the program in reducing this disparity.