CU Anschutz In The News

Dr. Hillary Lum of the University of Colorado School of Medicine says seniors facing barriers when trying to access cannabis.

Lauren De Crescenzo won the USA Collegiate National Time Trial Championship in Augusta, Georgia after sustaining a traumatic brain injury from a bike crash a few years earlier. On Thursday, `The Comeback Kid’ will graduate from the Colorado School of Public Health at CU Anschutz. Her Master’s thesis dealt with traumatic brain injury.

Psychologist Dr. Steven Berkowitz joins us today to talk about kid heroes. There is some worry, from the psychology community, about calling kids like Kendrick Castillo heroes.

Dr. Richard Schulick, director of the CU Cancer Center and a pancreas surgeon, joined us to talk about pancreatic cancer and why the diagnosis usually comes so late.

This is happening more frequently, as 189 departments across the state are now trained and equipped with this drug that helps overdosed patients start breathing properly again. “I just think that's one of the best success stories we can have,” said Rob Valuck, Ph.D., professor of pharmacy at the University of Colorado. “In the past, there's nothing much they can do except hope and wait. He said hundreds of officers who have used naloxone on dying patients since access was expanded. A new app called OpiRescue tracks overdose reversals, but only the ones that are reported to the app. More than 800 have been reported since the app went live two years ago, about the same time the state started receiving federal grants to purchase naloxone kits.

Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death in the U.S. only after cardiovascular disease. The good news is, over the last 25 years we have seen a 31 percent drop in cancer deaths here in Colorado. Dr. Ross Camidge, a world-renowned lung cancer specialist from the University of Colorado Cancer Center at CU Anschutz discusses recent advances in cancer care.

The school started the classes in 2011. Through the program, students have an opportunity to be mentored by health professionals from medical facilities like UCHealth and Anschutz Medical Center. “Having those connections can help, especially when you are going into college,” said senior Aaron Truong. “You can talk to them (and) they can help you out and those connections are really vital.”

Liza Claus, PharmD with the CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy, appears on 9NEWS at 4 to explain the national shortage of the shingles vaccine, Shingrix. The CDC recommends getting the shingles vaccine at 50 years old or older.