CU Anschutz In The News

Every woman who lives to midlife eventually goes through the hormonal transition that is menopause. Yet this significant biological event has long been shrouded in secrecy, spoken of in hushed terms or referenced with euphemisms like “the change.” Only in recent years has menopause been discussed more openly among women and the media, says Nanette Santoro, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and a longtime menopause researcher.

“We always said hot flashes occur because the hypothalamus is malfunctioning, which is true. But we’re now understanding the details about why that is,” says Nanette Santoro, chair of obstetrics and gyneacology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and a longtime menopause researcher.

“Almost all the [neurological] things we’re seeing now with COVID-19 are things you might have predicted would have happened,” says Kenneth Tyler, chairman of the department of neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.

For the last 15 years of her life, Potter carried a card with these words: “It is my wish to have my body used for purposes similar to those used in the Visible Human Project, namely that photographic images might be used on the Internet for medical education … In the event of my death … page Dr. Victor M. Spitzer, Ph.D. … There is a 4-hour window for the remains to be received.” Potter knew because she visited the room where her body would be taken, saw the machinery that would grind her tissue away one paper-thin section at a time for imaging, and heard Spitzer, the director of the Center for Human Simulation at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, explain the process more than a decade before she died. Spitzer didn’t volunteer to show her the room; Potter demanded it.