School of Medicine In the News

In Colorado and across the nation, emergency departments at pediatric hospitals are overflowing with kids who need intensive mental health treatment.

A little more than a month after the Olympics wrap up, women triathletes will be heading to the south of France for another competition on the global stage.

In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. With every kilometre he ascended, he pushed the boundaries of human achievement and catalyzed a surge of interest in exploration, research, development – and medical innovation.

Experts debating the pressing issue of how to prioritize patients in the increasingly common scenario of loss of access or insurance coverage for anti-obesity glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist drugs argued that comorbidities and obesity severity should strongly warrant continued coverage — while offering key strategies for getting and retaining approval from payers.

Affecting approximately 1% of adults worldwide, ankle arthritis is often found in patients with a history of ankle fractures and ligament injuries around the ankle joint.

A new survey shows that some people, especially younger Americans, believe misinformation about sunscreen and skin cancer. Dr. Whitney High, a dermatologist at Denver Health, joined FOX31 News Wednesday afternoon to dismiss some of the more common notions.

White House officials and Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera were in Aurora Wednesday to tout Biden's Cancer Moonshot, a multi-phase effort aimed at reducing cancer death rate by half within 25 years. 

Nearly 40% of women in their 40s would delay the start of regular breast cancer screening after learning about some of the potential downsides.

New research makes the case for educating women in their 40s — who've been caught in the crossfire of a decades-long debate about whether to be screened for breast cancer with mammograms — about the harms as well as the benefits of the exam.

A Colorado eye doctor is criticizing the Food and Drug Administration's decision to stand by its policy of rejecting cornea donations from men who have sex with men. 

U.S. News & World Report announced the 2024-25 “Best Hospitals” rankings and ratings on July 16, which evaluated the performance of nearly 5,000 hospitals on measures such as risk-adjusted mortality rates, preventable complications and level of nursing care. Colorado UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital (Aurora)

If you have bipolar I disorder, you’re likely familiar with the intense mood shifts that are associated with the mental health condition—for instance, episodes of mania, depression, or both.

“One of the things we worried about was that the pandemic would make [burnout findings] look worse,” said lead author Dan Heppe, a hospitalist and associate director of the CU Internal Medicine Residency Program. “Anecdotally, residents may have had more support in our program than perhaps some other programs. Though they had long hours with very sick patients, we tried to keep going in a positive direction.”

Colorado is the only state in the U.S. that's conducting mass screening for celiac disease among children, and it's happening at a research center in Aurora. 

The brain extends from the skull and touches the outside world in only one place: the phyllo-like layers of retinal cells that line the back of the eye.

The Colorado-based documentary “Six Schizophrenic Brothers” casts light on a serious psychiatric condition. A physician featured in the series and close to the family believes it missed a huge opportunity. He wants all who view the series to know about new hope.

The American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons has named the top 50 adult reconstruction fellowship programs in the U.S. for 2024. 

Denver Nuggets rookie DaRon Holmes II underwent surgery on Monday to repair his torn right Achilles tendon sustained in the NBA Summer League, the team announced.

Pregnant women are bombarded with advertisements — on social media, in childbirth classes, even in their doctors’ offices — urging them to bank the blood in their baby’s umbilical cord and gain “peace of mind.”

The messaging around mammography often doesn’t go beyond this simple three-word refrain: screening saves lives. 

A considerable proportion of women aged 39 to 49 years prefer to delay breast cancer screening, especially after a decision aid (DA) intervention, according to a study published online July 16 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs) are recognized as pharmacoresistant seizures and developmental delay. 

Faye Brown, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, a family nurse practitioner at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, discusses how technology can be used to improve dermatology triage systems and expand access to care for underserved communities at the Society for Pediatric Dermatology annual conference held in Toronto, Canada.

Asimple yet powerful nutritional concept called "30-30-3" has gone viral, amassing 265,000 views. The Instagram video, which emphasizes foundational nutrition habits, has captured widespread attention and sparked discussions on social media about the importance of proper diet for optimal health.

Dr. Andrew Maertens from Denver Health is a hand and microvascular surgeon and works at one of the busiest Level I trauma hospitals in the area. 

Treating patients with soft tissue sarcoma or bone sarcoma is a “team sport,” as one expert explained in an interview with CURE®.

Dr. Katherine Green, head of the sleep center at UCHealth, talks about how the heat can mess with sleeping and circadian rhythm.

Dearborn native Ahmad Hider is leading an accomplished and decorated academic and professional career.

Melanie Cree, a pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s Hospital Colorado [and associate professor of pediatrics at CU School of Medicine], conducted a randomized trial to test semaglutide, the active ingredient in drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic, in women and adolescents with PCOS.

Heat kills more people than any other weather-related event in the United States, and with parts of Colorado expecting days of triple-digit weather heading into the weekend, doctors say understanding the risk is essential.

 In her eight years of skiing for Team USA, Alice Merryweather learned a thing or two about going fast.

With three days of 100-degree heat anticipated in Colorado, Sarah Garcia and her 1-year-old son Jonathan are finding every reason to cool off.

Millions of people have taken glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist drugs such as Ozempic to lose weight, despite the fact that the drugs can cause severe nausea and vomiting.

In the Middle Ages, plague killed millions in Europe, claiming perhaps up to 200 million lives, half the continent’s population. But it's not just a thing of the past.

Clinicians have long understood that administrative decisions can cause harm, both to themselves and to their patients. Now, a term for the phenomenon is gaining wider recognition -- "administrative harm."

As temperatures rise outside, trauma rooms inside the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora are prepared to aid patients in cooling down.

Colorado’s senators and a congressman are demanding answers from U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs leadership over a series of troubling reports about its Aurora hospital.

4D-710, 4D Molecular Therapeutics’ (4DMT) gene therapy candidate for treating cystic fibrosis, showcased CFTR transgene RNA and protein expression in all 10 participants treated at the higher and lower dose levels with follow-up up to 12 months in the phase 1/2 AEROW clinical trial (NCT05248230).

As healthcare evolves, the question of what the future holds is increasingly looming. Among a sea of innovations and challenges, forty-six health IT and finance leaders shared their predictions on how healthcare delivery will change in the coming decade. 

Twenty percent of pregnant women reported using CBD-only products during pregnancy despite limited available data on potential adverse outcomes of CBD, according to findings published in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Although combination therapy with the mTOR inhibitor sapanisertib and Aurora A kinase inhibitor alisertib (MLN8237) resulted in marginal clinical benefit among patients with advanced solid tumors, correlative analyses indicated that apoptotic response and tumor immune cell infiltrate may affect clinical outcomes.

Lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel) has demonstrated its ability to yield durable complete responses in patients with heavily pretreated mantle cell lymphoma and was FDA-approved for this indication in May 2024.

No matter how worthy the cause, policy initiatives go nowhere without the help of legislator champions to fight for them. When it comes to addressing Colorado’s obesity and diabetes crises, we Diabetes Advocates are grateful to have state Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet in our corner.

Ravulizumab was successful in improving blood health, kidney function and quality of life while maintaining eGFR in pediatric and adult patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, according to published data.

Few topics echo in the doctors’ lounge across the country more often than physician burnout. It’s the hot topic of our time.

Adults with type 2 diabetes experienced a reduction in HbA1c within 3 months of starting continuous glucose monitoring, regardless of insulin therapy, a presenter reported at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions.

This figure might burn into your July 4th brain: the sparkler, beloved for its festive fiery shoots of light, burns at temperatures of about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

The 111th edition of the world-famous Tour de France starts June 29 in Florence, Italy. 

The identification of these two populations of neurons is the paper’s key contribution, says Allison Shapiro, a specialist in neurodevelopment at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora who was not involved in the research. It fits in with the anecdotal idea that there are two types of fullness: one that is anticipatory and another that arises in response to eating. “Based on what they’ve found, it appears that this specific region of the hypothalamus is responsible for both, which is pretty cool.”

Ozempic and GLP-1 drugs like it became household names due to their potent weight loss benefits, and are now proving useful in a slew of other chronic conditions.

Adding continuous glucose monitoring to hospital standard of care does not appear to improve glycemic control for adults with type 2 diabetes, according to results of the TIGHT study.

Awareness of the harms to patients caused by errors in diagnosis and treatment has been front and center for nearly 25 years. 

Jillian Alfieri didn’t even make it through her first seven months before asthma started having its way with her.

An advisory from the U.S. surgeon general says gun violence is an urgent public health crisis. 

Denverites will vote this fall on a .34 percent sales tax — or an extra 3.4 cents on a $10 purchase — to fund Denver Health. 

The Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center paused heart surgeries for nearly a year between 2022 and 2023 because the hospital didn’t have the staff to care for those patients after their procedures — and never told the federal Veterans Health Administration, as required. Two new reports released Monday by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of the Inspector General detailed the surgical pause, which hadn’t been previously reported, and investigators’ findings that the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System’s leadership created a “culture of fear” that compromised patient safety.

Findings from a recent study are calling attention to the significant impact of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) on glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes, highlighting its impact in this patient population across individuals on various therapeutic treatments.

A 12-year-old girl from Greeley is largely back to living her full life after years of battling a rare health condition that impacts around 12 children in the Rocky Mountain region every year, and her current health was made possible by her doctors and her grandma.

Francesca McGinn, a 16-year-old high school student from Chicago, struggled with her weight nearly her entire life.

The University of Colorado Board of Regents recently approved the school system’s $6.28 billion budget for the upcoming school year.

Despite medical cannabis in the US dating back more than 3 decades, the legalization movement in the last decade means millions and millions of US adults now have access to cannabis, for both medical and recreational purposes.

Fewer Coloradans died in 2023 than in the previous year, but the state still lost more people than it did before the pandemic.

The University of Colorado decided on Friday to keep its policy that allowed concealed carry on campus after considering banning it for roughly two months. The existing policy will stay in place, but CU added about two sentences acknowledging that the university will comply with all state laws on the matter. The revision was proposed following the passage of a state law in May that bans people with permits from concealing and carrying weapons in “sensitive spaces” including universities.

A study is underway to evaluate O2matic's solution for optimizing oxygen treatment.

Children’s Hospital Colorado, in partnership with University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, has launched the Colorado Child Health Research Institute, enabling more than 500 physician-scientists, Ph.D.s, nurse-scientists and other investigators to collaborate across disciplines to make research discoveries.

Thanks to menopause, almost everyone knows something about how age affects hormone levels – in women.

Canadian superstar Céline Dion’s foundation is donating $2 million to the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus to advance research into stiff person syndrome and other rare neurological autoimmune diseases, university officials announced Tuesday.

A new study published today in JAMA Network Open by an international cohort of researchers provides the latest data on the effectiveness of treating pancreatic cancer patients with chemotherapy (with or without radiation therapy) before surgery to remove a tumor. The study focuses specifically on pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients.

The Celine Dion Foundation has pledged $2 million to create the Celine Dion Foundation Endowed Chair in Autoimmune Neurology. The announcement was made during the New York special screening of her upcoming documentary, I Am: Celine Dion.

Since the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, participation of women in sports has steadily increased.

Last year, Colorado got hit hard by West Nile virus, leading the nation in deaths with 51, its highest number in more than two decades.

When it comes to Colorado's so-called "Red Flag" gun violence prevention law, where you live often dictates when it's used, if it's used at all.

The European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) and North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) released a joint guideline on childhood eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGIDs) beyond eosinophilic esophagitis earlier this year 

Dermatologist Dr. Whitney High never goes anywhere without his trusty umbrella to block out the sun, and there's good reason.

Whoever said the eyes are the windows to the soul probably didn’t imagine them being a key to diagnosing severe mental health conditions. But some research shows that what a person focuses on and how their pupils respond, among other eye movements, can reveal the presence of depression, PTSD or schizophrenia, as well as developmental disabilities like autism.

Céline Dion’s doctor is hoping that the singer’s decision to share her journey with stiff-person syndrome will be a catalyst for more research about the debilitating and rare autoimmune and neurological disorder.

West Virginia was named the worst state to practice medicine in for 2024 by Medscape, while Wisconsin was named the best. 

An analysis of the online conversations of more than 1,000 health care professionals worldwide through May revealed positive reactions to the approval of three key treatment options for patients with cancer.

Given the slight uptick in concentrations of COVID-19 in local wastewater, we thought it would be a good time to check in with Dr. Anuj Mehta, a critical care physician at National Jewish Medical Center who advised the state on its COVID-19 response.

Colorado high school students seem to be feeling better mentally, with the number reporting signs of poor mental health not only falling from its pandemic high, but in some cases hitting the lowest level since the state started surveying youth in 2013, though it also found youth don’t always feel safe in school, and problems with body image are widespread.

Lewis Morgenstern has made up his mind. When he turns 65 in four years, he’s going to sign an advance directive for driving.

Although today’s antiretroviral therapy (ART) allows people with HIV to live longer, healthier lives, they are at risk for metabolic side effects associated with increases in adipose tissue, including diabetes, hyperlipidemia and fatty livers.

Coloradans, be aware of mosquitos! Colorado doctors are warning of the West Nile virus, after the state saw the biggest outbreak in the country last year.

Determining policies and studying trends in the public health space is important to create positive outcomes for patients with cancer.

In the more than two years since she was diagnosed with stiff person syndrome, Celine Dion has worked with a Colorado doctor and her team to overcome the rare and chronic disease.

Ali Saad:  I completed the fellowship last year at the University of Colorado. It’s called the Climate and Health Policy Fellowship. It's been around for about 6 years, and it’s designed to train physicians who have finished their traditional clinical training, meaning residency and clinical fellowship, on climate science, as well as the intersection between climate and health, and then how to be an effective advocate from a policy perspective. It was a yearlong fellowship. I stayed on as affiliate faculty. I’m the first neurologist to have done it. My focus has been food systems’ role between climate and health.

Colorado researchers have found a way to predict whether a baby might develop food allergies. It’s a finding that would enable them to offer emerging treatments to head off allergies as that baby grows up.

This reduction in disabling stroke in the real world was supported by a secondary analysis using propensity score weighting (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.70-0.90), reported Neel Butala, of Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center and the University of Colorado School of Medicine, both in Aurora.

At least 12 people in eight states have fallen ill after eating Diamond Shruumz-brand Microdosing Chocolate Bars and other mushroom edibles, including several who had seizures or lost consciousness and needed to be placed on ventilators. People also developed high blood pressure and abnormal heart rates.

After 2-year-old Mateo died from drowning, his donated organs saved other people’s lives. His family found solace in knowing that his liver went to an infant and his kidneys to two adults. 

The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) has partnered with the University of Colorado (CU) School of Medicine to provide mutual support with research, mentorship, and collaborative initiatives.

Lucinda Kohn, assistant professor of dermatology [at CU School of Medicine] in the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, who was asked to comment on the results, said the findings echo the results of a recent study which characterized melanoma rates among non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native individuals from 1999 to 2019

Denver Health, Colorado's safety net hospital, said it's facing a financial crisis. The hospital is required by law to treat anyone who comes into the hospital for treatment, regardless of their financial status or where they're from. 

Denver Health came close to breaking even in 2023 after a few one-time grants came through. 

Denver Health's ability to provide optimal care may rest on the public's appetite for a tax increase.

The University of Colorado is considering how to move forward on its concealed carry weapons policy, after a new state law will soon ban concealed carry at schools statewide.

Women who experience moderate to severe hot flashes may be more likely to develop metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), a small study suggests.

In disease research, it's important to know gene expression and where in a tissue the expression is happening, but marrying the two sets of information can be challenging.