CU Anschutz In The News

Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus recently found that young adult cancer survivors often struggle with issues surrounding debt and work. "This project combined the expertise of researchers with diverse training from major cancer centers throughout the U.S. in a team-science approach, which made it possible to gather and explore data from adolescent and young adult cancer survivors in new ways,” said researcher Betsy Risendal, PhD. “As a result, this is among the first and largest studies to examine the impact of cancer diagnosis and treatment on work-related outcomes in this important understudied group of survivors.”

The disruption in the attachment process can add to the psychological distress of parents, according to Susan Niermeyer, a neonatologist at Children's Hospital of Colorado and a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "Attachment is fundamental to survival. To really thrive, babies need the interaction of a consistent caregiver. It's important not only for a child's neurodevelopment but also for the emotional health of the whole family," Niermeyer says.

As the dean of the Colorado School of Public Health Jonathan Samet, who advised the World Health Organization on cellphone radiation and cancer told Vox, you can argue anything based on the science we currently have “because there’s not enough evidence to start with.”

To people like Monika Nuffer, a clinical pharmacist and herbal specialist at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital’s Integrative Medicine Center, that means it’s time for medical providers to learn more about complementary approaches. This past fall she launched an integrative health and medicine graduate certificate, which focuses on herbs and supplements, for pharmacists in the University of Colorado’s Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. We caught up with her this winter to talk about complementary modalities in other cultures and why patients aren’t always honest with their docs about exactly what they’re taking.

Your drafty house may be bad for your health, according to a new University of Colorado study that suggests weatherizing homes is more than just a matter of saving money and the environment. The researchers from CU Boulder and the Colorado School of Public Health at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus measured ventilation, or air-exchange rates — the rate at which outdoor air replaces a room’s indoor air — in homes in low-income neighborhoods in Denver, Aurora and elsewhere in Colorado.

Researchers at CU Anschutz have zeroed in on a chromosome location that might help explain the high rates of asthma in people of African descent.

At the institutions where we work, the University of Colorado improved efficiency by decreasing unnecessary admissions by 20 percent, despite a 53 percent increase in ED volume. And, Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center implemented a number of techniques to speed patient flow through the system: bedside registration, electronic dashboard that displays bed status throughout the hospital, physical expansion of the ED, and a paging protocol to notify senior leadership of impending capacity issues, writes Richard Klasco, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

“That's the fear, but I don't know that we have a lot of evidence that that's true,” says Dr. Sean O’Leary, an associate professor in pediatrics and infectious diseases at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “In the places that have had longstanding policies of not having any exemptions -- West Virginia and Mississippi, for example -- their kindergarten rates are 99 percent. They've maintained very high vaccination rates for many years.”