HOSPIT AL MEDICINE
SUMMER NEW SLETTER 2025
#CUDHM Accomplishments
Check out our top Division of Hospital Medicine (DHM) accomplishments from the last quarter!
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DHM Daily
Explore the daily happenings in hospital medicine that build into our efforts to improve lives through excellence in patient care, education, and cutting-edge innovation.
Summer Spotlight
The Hotel2Hospital project demonstrates how a conference hotel can be rapidly transformed into a fully functional hospital, offering a scalable solution for patient surges during crises.
Stay
Message from Marisha Burden, MD, MBA
As we close out another busy summer, I am once again inspired by the passion, collaboration, and innovation that define our Division of Hospital Medicine. From advancing research and education to delivering outstanding patient care, our work is fueled not only by our dedicated team but also by the partnerships and connections we share across our broader community. This newsletter is a celebration of those efforts — a snapshot of the people, ideas, and collaborations shaping the future of hospital medicine. Thank you for following along with us, and we look forward to building on this momentum together in the months ahead.
#CUDHM ACCOMPLISHMENT S
DHM Top Quarterly Accomplishments
These are just a few highlights of the many accomplishments for our incredible team.
Building Better Work: Redesigning the Future of Hospital Medicine
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The Division of Hospital Medicine is advancing Building Better Work, a collaborative initiative that focuses on improving patient outcomes, supporting provider well-being, and enhancing system efficiency. Through monthly meetings, the group brings together a diverse team of researchers and innovators to share ideas, refine projects, and identify opportunities for future collaboration. This work is creating a strong foundation for research, mentorship, and innovation that will shape the future of hospital medicine.
Diagnostic Cross-Check Pilot
We have several hospitalists involved with the Diagnostic Cross-Check Pilot. Through this pilot, we are looking to improve our diagnostics even further through better hospital medicine-critical care partnership. Shout out to Katie Raffel, MD, Rachel Weiss, MD, Bhavyaa Bahl, MD, Nick Bianchina, MD, Anusha Raja, MD, David Scudder, MD, and the DxEx/ADEPT team for improving lives through excellence in patient care, education, and cutting edge innovation!
Celebrating Promotions
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We're excited to announce our recently promoted faculty! Please help us recognize the individuals below for their hard work on getting promoted.
a: Promoted to Associate Professor | b: Promoted to Professor
Phil Fung, MDa
Elizabeth Gillespie, MD, MPHa
Jeffrey Hollis,
Angela Keniston, PhD, MSPHa
Julie Knoeckel, MDa
Henry Kramer, MDa
Sarah Stella, MDb
Christine Jones, MDb
NEWEST TEAM MEMBER S
Welcome the Newest #CUDHM Team Additions
*These individuals may look familiar. We're exciting to welcome our past scholars to full time positions on our team!
Staff Highlight - Patient Navigator
Claudia Camacho, BA
Claudia Camacho is our incredible patient navigator in Dr. Cervantes research lab since 2013, helping run kidney disease research by meeting participants where theyʼre most comfortable, collecting data, and ensuring they feel supported throughout the process. Her favorite part of the job is bringing her community into research and advocating for greater health equity. Recently, Claudia celebrated an exciting milestone when she presented their work at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), sharing the impact of their efforts with scientists from across the country. Outside of work, she enjoys using her bilingual skills to give back, volunteering as an interpreter at legal clinics and at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
David Gamble, Katherine Zimmerman, MD MD
Matthew Westfall, MD Santana Sanchez, MD
Greg Petersen, MD*
Megan Humphrey, MD
Philip Angelides, MD
Rogelio Guaita Soto, MD
Nick Bianchina, MD
Mallory Clark, MD Chaith Reddy, MD
C UDHM WINS
Wins & Awards
Michelle Knees, DO
Selected as a Journal of Hospital Medicine Editorial Fellow
Amiran Baduashvili, MD
Selected to serve as Associate Editor for the Journal of General Internal Medicine (JGIM)
Sansrita Nepal, MD Awarded Denver Health Values Award for Transparency in 2025
Improving lives through excellence in patient care, education, and cutting edge innovation.
Ellen Sarcone, MD
Jeff Wagner, MD 2025 Golden Stethoscope Preceptorship Award (Outstanding Clinical Reasoning) & selected to serve as an Associate Editor for JGIM
Completed the Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety and Efficiency (IHQSE) year-long Certificate Training Program
Haley Briggs, PA-C
Selected as Co-Associate Director for our Advanced Practice Fellowship Program
C UDHM WINS
5280 Magazine's 2025 Top Docs - Hospital Medicine
CU Medicine is proud to celebrate the 610 physicians selected for this yearʼs 5280 Magazine Top Doctors list. This annual list offers patients a trusted guide to top-tier care. It reflects CU Medicineʼs longstanding commitment to clinical excellence and reinforces our role as a leader in Coloradoʼs healthcare system. Nominations come directly from Denver-area physicians who name the colleagues they would choose to care for themselves or their families.
Let's hear it for the 20 hospitalists in our division who were honored as 5280 Magazine's Top Doctors this year! It's such an honor to be recognized by your community, and we are so proud.
C UDHM WINS
Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) Awards
The CU School of Medicine is proud to once again recognize physicians across Colorado who dedicate their time and expertise to teaching medical students through our longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) programs.
Now in its fourth year, the curriculum continues to highlight the LIC as the standard training model for all medical students, making CU among the first major medical schools in the country to fully adopt this innovative approach.
Through the LIC, students learn side by side with preceptors in every core specialty for an entire year, building meaningful relationships and continuity that shorter rotations canʼt provide. They also follow patients longitudinally, accompanying them through care experiences that deepen understanding and foster more empathetic, patient-centered physicians.
This yearʼs awards honor the faculty whose dedication makes this transformative model a reality. Help us congratulate the hospital medicine individuals that have supported and been honored for their work in the LIC program.
Hospital Medicine LIC Winners
Mel Anderson, MD Rural LIC Seminar Teacher of the Year Award
Erica Smith, MD
DH Advocacy LIC Seminar Teacher of the Year Award
Jackson Turbyfill, MD
VA QI LIC Seminar Teacher of the Year Award
Mark Reid, MD
2025 LIC Bardsley Teaching Award
Kevin Sullivan, MD
2025 Inquiry 2 LIC Seminar Teacher of the Year Award
Jeff Wagner, MD
2025 UCH Inquiry LIC Seminar Teacher of the Year Award
Recent Speaking Opportunities
• Kasia Mastalerz, MD - Invited Visiting Professor at Duke University 7/29/25 and presented Grand Rounds there: "Interprofessional Communication in Inpatient Settings: Theory, Systems, and Trust”
• Frannie Lorenzi, PA-C - Keynote speaker at Northwestern's white coat ceremony
• Anna Munoa, MD - Presented at Western Group on Educational Affairs (WGEA)
• DEX25 Workshop Presentation - David Scudder, MD, David Klimpl, MD, Molly McCullough, PA-C, Taiju Miyagami, MD, PhD, and Natalie Held, MD have been invited to present at the national diagnostic excellence conference, DEX25. They will be presenting, "Managing the Load: Using the Insights of Cognitive Load Theory to Improve Diagnosis and Education" to interprofessional attendees from across the country.
Recent Lung POCUS Credentialed Faculty
We’re proud to support growth through our quarterly “Lung Ultrasound and Finding Fluid” workshops. These four-hour sessions are open to CU faculty and designed to build confidence in both image acquisition and interpretation. Participants spend time in hands-on scanning practice and case review, while also learning the criteria for hospital credentialing. Our team helps faculty take the first steps toward incorporating lung ultrasound and pleural effusion/ascites scans into their everyday clinical practice.
Congrats to our recently Lung POCUS credentialed faculty! With their success, we now have 30 faculty members credentialed in lung ultrasound.
Sarah
Scarpato, MD
Amie Scott, MD
Kathleen Glenn, PA-C Jon Pell, MD
PUBLICATIONS & AR TICLES
Recent Publications
Check
Written
by Tayler Shaw, Featuring Katie Raffel, MD
DHM DAILY
Medical Education Video Series: FacDev in 5
This series of bite-sized medical education videos is designed to boost your teaching expertise in a snap! Created by experts in the field, these videos offer quick, actionable tips that you can start using in your medical setting today. Use these reflection questions to guide individual reflection or group discussion on the video content.
Delivering Chalk Talks by Dr. Caitlin Dietsche
Reflection Questions
1. Have you utilized chalk talks in your teaching? If so, how have they gone?
2. What are some topics that lend themselves well to incorporating a chalk talk?
3. What role should the learner have during a chalk talk?
4. What suggestions do you have for others wanting to incorporate chalk talks into their teaching practice?
Approaching the Struggling Learner by Dr. Mel Anderson
Reflection Questions
1. What are some examples of objective data you could obtain if you had a learner who you felt had performance concerns?
2. What are some ways you can help your learners adopt a growth mindset?
3. What are some ways you have helped struggling learners get back on track in the past?
4. When having an initial conversation with a struggling learner, what are some things you can do to establish mutual trust?
Highlighting the Value of Clinical Teaching by Dr. Benjamin Vipler
Reflection Questions
1. What difficulties have you experienced when communicating the value of being an educator to leadership or clinical administrators?
2. What other benefits do you experience serving as an instructor to medical and health professions learners?
3. What tips would you add to the list provided?
Promoting Adaptive Expertise Among Learners by Dr. Juan Lessing
Reflection Questions
1. Before watching this video, had you previously heard of this term “adaptive expertise?” If so, how and in what contexts?
2. An example strategy for building deep understanding was to encourage learners to think aloud when solving problems. Do you currently do this? How do you think that would go in your current teaching practice?
3. One of the tips for promoting expertise was using meaningful variation. What would this look like in your practice?
4. Can you give some examples of ways in which you create a safe space for challenges with your learners?
DHM DAILY
Weʼre celebrating the close of another incredible summer with our Health Innovations Scholar Program (HISP) participants. We welcomed six students, Pranathi Darba, MS2, Pooja Ghay, MS2, Rebekah Davis, MS4, Sarah Johnson, MS2, Derek Dixon, MS2, and Diana Lois, OMS2. Our 2025 participants joined us from July 7th to August 1st.
Over four weeks, these medical students explored LEAN, design thinking, and change management to tackle a real healthcare challenge. They took a wall of 100 sticky notes and distilled it into one focused, actionable suite of interventions created with stakeholders to promote diagnostic check-ins between team members and encourage collaborative thinking during diagnostic challenges.
Through stakeholder engagement and a human-centered approach, they have created sustainable strategies to improve care delivery at the University of Colorado. Weʼre proud of their dedication, creativity, and commitment to building a better healthcare future.
To learn more about our Health Innovations Scholars Program visit our website to stay up to date for our 2026 program.
DHM DAILY
Patient Experience Highlight
For nearly two years, the DHM Patient Experience Champion Awards have recognized faculty who receive especially positive feedback in patient experience surveys, reminding us of the impact hospitalists make through excellent patient care. Each month, members of the Division receive this award based on outstanding comments, and we applaud all past and future Champions.
These monthly emails not only celebrate colleagues’ achievements but also allow us to hear directly from the voices of our patients. We are proud to re-highlight Dr. Robert Metter, who was recognized by a former patient with the following words: “Would like to give great props to a young Dr. Metter. This young man is awesome, in knowledge, bedside manner and plain smart as heck. Ten more like him could possibly revolutionize medicine in service to mankind. Awesome find.”
Recognitions like these remind us that the work of our hospitalists extends far beyond clinical expertise. They leave lasting impressions on the lives of our patients and their families. By celebrating these stories, we hope to continue fostering a culture of compassion, connection, and excellence in patient care.
SUMMER SPO TLIGHT
Hotel2Hospital Featuring Hospitalist Dr. Jason Persoff
Jason Persoff, MD, and Charles Little, DO, along with “Team Colorado,” are leading a groundbreaking project that could transform the future of emergency preparedness. The Hotel2Hospital (H2H) initiative demonstrates how a large conference hotel can be rapidly converted into a fully functional hospital during a patient surge caused by war, pandemic, or natural disaster.
In just a few weeks, two floors of the Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center were transformed into a prototype hospital, complete with patient rooms, intensive care units, a nursing station, pharmacy, radiology center, and electronic monitoring systems. More than a simple mock-up, the facility functioned like a real hospital, allowing doctors, nurses, and technicians to “test drive” clinical workflows in a realistic setting.
Funded through a $12.5 million U.S. Department of Defense grant, H2H builds on lessons learned from COVID-19 and explores scalable, practical solutions for expanding hospital capacity. Unlike large convention centers or field tents, hotels provide advantages such as private rooms, individual bathrooms, sturdy infrastructure, and infection-control measures that allow for true ICU and medical-surgical care.
The project, now entering its third year, is refining a detailed playbook on how to replicate the model in other communities. As Dr. Persoff explains, “Because of this work, we now have a blueprint to turn a hotel into a hospital-level care site in just two to four weeks. This could save countless lives during a crisis.”
STAY CONNEC TED
Recent & Upcoming Dates
SEPT 22-26
National APP Week
National Healthcare Quality Week OCT 19-25 World Mental Health Day
Announcements
SHM Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Course
We held our SHM Rocky Mountain Chapter POCUS Regional Course from September 18-19, 2025. During this course, we hosted 50 participants who gained knowledge and skill in POCUS image acquisition, interpretation and integration into clinical decision-making. We also welcomed in POCUS experts across the country to help participants with their hands-on practice sections. This course was ran by our POCUS Co-Directors Michelle Fleshner, MD and Carolina Ortiz-Lopez, MD. Thank you so much to the incredible experts who helped make this course a success!
Not able to make it to our last course? Our applications are open for our March 2026 POCUS Course! Expand your ultrasound skills by joining our Point of Care Ultrasound course March 12-13, 2025. This immersive two-day workshop includes:
◦ 3:1 participant-to-instructor ratio
◦ Live model scanning and procedure-based practice
◦ Up to 16 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ Early bird registration is $1875 through December 15. Learn more on our website and secure your spot today!
A Chance to be Featured
For marketing content, please send your submission to Kelsey Hussey, MS at kelsey.hussey@cuanschutz.edu. Please our hashtag #CUDHM or tag us in your post!
