CU Anschutz In The News

Op ed by Cathy J. Bradley, Ph.D., dean of the Colorado School of Public Health and the deputy director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center. “As dean of the region’s only school of public health, I have questioned the lack of transformational investments in public health. With COVID-19 commanding less attention, are we investing in the people who saw us through the pandemic? Are we thinking about the next emergency and the role of public health?”

Bonnie Jortberg, an associate professor in family medicine and registered dietician at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, previously told Newsweek: "Most adults need approximately 0.75 grams of protein per kg of body weight per day. "For most men, this is about 55 grams per day and for women 45 grams per day. For athletes, it is recommended to increase protein to 1.0 grams per kg body weight. [But] it is a myth that eating lots more protein will gain muscle."

“In an ideal world, all women would get this information and then get to have their further questions answered by their doctor and come up with a screening plan that is right for them given their preferences, their values and their risk level,” said social psychologist Laura Scherer, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of research in the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

“Humans are really accidental hosts,” said Dr. Michelle Barron, senior medical director for the UCHealth Infection Prevention and Control and a professor of medicine and adviser to the Colorado School of Public Health. “It's when you come into contact with the animals, or the fleas that are associated with the animals, that they then end up infected.”

Four years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, scientists expected the virus would be well on its way to settling into a seasonal pattern by now, said Talia Quandelacy, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health. Now, they’re less sure whether COVID-19 will eventually do that, or if it can keep churning out new variants fast enough to remain active year-round, she said. “That’s one of the big questions in the field,” she said.

“Prenatal cannabis use (use of products containing THC and CBD during pregnancy) is concerning due to the risk of adverse consequences for offspring. Significantly less is known about prenatal use of CBD-only products,” Devika Bhatia, MD, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote. “However, because CBD product sales have increased dramatically in recent years, and CBD is perceived as safer than other substances, CBD use during pregnancy may occur at significant rates.”

Elizabeth Carlton, an epidemiologist at the Colorado School of Public Health, agreed that the risk to the general public right now is low. Systems designed to detect upticks in flu infections through hospital data and wastewater testing have not sounded any alarms. Pasteurized milk — what is sold in grocery stores — is safe to drink, though raw milk may not be. “Where we need to ramp up the level of concern in the population is when we see those dairy farm workers get infected and spread it to their families,” she said.

Emily Hemendinger, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, explained in a 2023 article that society needs to move away from focusing on appearance as a measure of fitness and health. "We live in a culture that really promotes thinness as 'healthy' and 'fitness," she explained in the article. "That's really unhelpful and unhealthy for anyone, especially athletes. Also, our culture for athletes really gives this message of 'no excuses, no off days,' especially around working out. Taking those two ideas combined, it’s easy to see how we celebrate disordered eating: Excessive exercise or overexertion means someone's highly disciplined and therefore successful and not weak."