CU Anschutz In The News

Dr. Matthew Wynia, an ethicist and infectious disease physician at the University of Colorado [Anschutz Medical Campus], said that health officials faced a frightening trade-off in choosing between a pause and warning: They would know only hypothetically the lives a pause may have cost, but they would know exactly who may have suffered or died from clots. Because of how unusual this disorder is, Dr. Wynia said, a typical warning to physicians would not have grabbed as much attention and “not have made the impact this did.”

"Childhood cases really reflect what's going on in the surrounding community," said Dr. Sean O'Leary, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Children's Hospital Colorado. Indeed, the seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases overall is up slightly from the previous week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Deutchman is a physician at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He regularly visits small town clinics to train doctors in the use of emerging technologies. He also directs the Rural Track Program at Anschutz, and a big part of the reason he facilitates such training is so the clinics can return the favor for his students. “[They] take advantage of having their physicians that they’re learning from have the ability to teach them in these different technologies,” Deutchman said.

I got stuck on the sadness of this for a few days, and then I decided to try and understand it better. While Hatcher recovered on the couch—doctor’s orders for him were to chill out and not move much or do much—I called the neurology department at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. Dr. Christopher M. Filley, the department’s director of behavioral neurology, helped me grasp what might have happened. “From what you told me, your son did not appear to be sufficiently injured to prompt someone on the slope to stop and see how he was doing,” he said.

"Basil or artery occlusion is a specific type of stroke that happens in the posterior circulation. This is the blood flow that enters the brain and then in the backside of your head," said Dr. Robert Kowalski, a clinical instructor in neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine who does stroke research. This area of the brain is critical for cardiac function. It regulates heartbeat and breathing. "These are a terrible type of stroke because the mortality rate is close to 90% when it's not treated," Kowalski said.

One in five Colorado high school students believe they could easily get a handgun, according to a University of Colorado study published in March. The study, from the Anschutz Medical Campus and the Colorado School of Public Health, examined data from more than 46,000 students. “There is not a lot of data out there to compare this to, but just from a gut-check standpoint, it seems like a lot of teens at least perceive they have access to a handgun,” said lead author Ashley Brooks-Russell, an assistant professor in the Colorado School of Public Health.

Dr. Liz Chamberlain, a licensed psychologist at CU Anschutz Health and Wellness Center, said while many are optimistic about this turning point, it could cause more stress and anxiety. “We’ve really become accustomed to being more isolated, keeping our distance, working from home and being in Zoom meetings. I think it’s going to be a difficult transition to get back to however we’re going to be next,” said Chamberlain.

Vitamin D may help boost the innate immune system in a number of ways, explained Dr. Adit Ginde, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and one of the study's authors. One mechanism, he says, is by increasing antimicrobial peptides, which function as natural antibiotic and antiviral guards against pathogens. Though some researchers are not yet convinced of the evidence for vitamin D and respiratory illness, others, like Ginde, are. "Based on those mechanisms, prevention [of COVID-19] would be the first scenario that you would expect to work," says Ginde. "It's also very clear deficiency causes dysfunction in the immune system."