In Aspen's high mountain air this summer the spotlight will shine on the Anschutz Medical Campus and its advances in medicine, biotechnology and health care.
This year's Aspen Ideas Festival puts a strong focus on health and what the next 10 years will bring. Leading physicians and scholars from the Anschutz Medical Campus will share their insights and research with the festival's 3,500-plus attendees from June 24-July 3.
Also, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus will host the Aspen Institute's Ideas Festival Preview event, featuring the campus's groundbreaking Alzheimer's research, on Wednesday, April 23.
A sponsor of the 10th annual Aspen Ideas Festival, the Anschutz Medical Campus will play a prominent role throughout the two-week festival, but especially during "Spotlight Health" programming June 24-27. Topics will all be health-related, featuring Dr. Huntington Potter, Ph.D., director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research and Clinical Center, and Robin Shandas, Ph.D., founder and chair of the Department of Bioengineering and professor of pediatrics and surgery. Potter and Shandas will speak on panels focused on their areas of expertise. Ben Cort, business development manager at the Center for Dependency, Addiction and Rehabilitation (CeDAR) at University of Colorado Hospital will speak about marijuana.
The Aspen Ideas Festival is a prestigious gathering of global, national and local leaders discussing the ideas and issues of our day, and driving that thought to action. Held on the Aspen Institute's campus in Aspen, it draws a national and international audience of thought leaders.
The high-profile forum of the The Aspen Ideas Festival: Spotlight Health offers an ideal platform on which to raise the profile of the Anschutz Medical Campus.
"The festival takes place in Aspen, our own backyard, and attracts attendees from around the country and the world," said Leanna Clark, vice chancellor of University Communications. "The Spotlight Health focus ensures that we are getting the Anschutz Medical Campus brand in front of the foremost academics, policy makers, practitioners, industry executives, philanthropists and concerned citizens, and engaging them in the conversation to transform health and health care."
In addition, the Anschutz Medical Campus will invite a small group of industry leaders to engage in a more intimate conversation in the area of personalized medicine. Hosted by Chancellor Don Elliman and Dr. David Schwartz, chair of the Department of Medicine, the luncheon will be a more focused conversation on the ethics of and barriers to advances in the field.
Each year, the Aspen Institute invites a small number of "Spotlight Scholars." Scholars are invited to attend the conference in recognition of their academic accomplishments and ability to translate ideas into action. Nine physicians and researchers from the Anschutz Medical Campus, a diverse group of leaders in the field of health, have received this honor: Stacy Anderson (Pediatric Health, Heart and Circulation, Children's Hospital Colorado), Dr. Marian Betz (Emergency Medicine), Santos Franco (Ph.D., Pediatrics), Dr. Adit Ginde (Emergency Medicine and Public Health), Dr. Benzi Kluger (Neurology, University of Colorado Hospital), Dr. Deise Oliveira (Dentistry), Dr. William Sauer (Cardiology, UCH), Dr. Darlene Tad-y (Internal Medicine) and Dr. Kristina Tocce (Obstetrics and Gynecology).
Vic Spitzer, Ph.D., associate professor, Cell and Developmental Biology and director of the Center for Human Simulation at the School of Medicine, will display an arthroscopic simulator as part of the festival's Innovation Gallery.
On the evening of April 23, as a prelude to the festival, Anschutz Medical Campus welcomes Kitty Boone, executive director of the Aspen Ideas Festival, and other guests to Trivisible Room in Research 2. Lilly Marks, CU vice president for health affairs and executive vice chancellor of the Anschutz Medical Campus, will provide opening remarks at 7 p.m., following the reception at 6 p.m. Dr. Potter, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research and Clinical Center, will be interviewed by Kathy Walsh of CBS News, regarding his latest Alzheimer's research. Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute, will be interviewed by Cathy Proctor of the Denver Business Journal.