Welcome to Pediatric Medical Education

1930: The Department of Pediatrics is established, adding child-centric education to the University of Colorado School of Medicine curriculum. Franklin Gengenbach is appointed Chair.

1950s: While based primarily at Colorado General Hospital, The Department of Pediatrics begins forging formal relationships with The Children’s Hospital, Denver General Hospital, National Jewish Hospital, and Fitzsimons Army Medical Center to augment educational and training opportunities for students and residents.

1960s: Keeping pace with growing pediatric specialization, the Department of Pediatrics significantly expands its residency and fellowship offerings.

1965: Loretta Ford and Henry Silver cofound the first nurse practitioner program in the nation. The ground-breaking training concept prepared registered nurses to assess, diagnose, treat, and evaluate patients independently.

1968: Henry Silver creates the Child Health Associate/PA program, the first pediatric physician assistant training experience. The innovative program confirms that non-physicians can be trained to provide as much as 95% of ambulatory pediatric care.

1969: Separate Pediatric residency programs at the School of Medicine and The Children’s Hospital begin a process to merge. The shared program launches in 1972.

1993: “Primary Care,” the School of Medicine’s first interdepartmental program, is initiated by Dean Richard Krugman and created by Gwyn Barley. Emphasizing a humanistic approach to medical care, the three-year, longitudinal program (renamed “Foundations of Doctoring” in 2005) connects students with clinical preceptors in the hospital and the community.

1993: Structured rotations with pediatricians practicing in more rural Colorado communities were established and encouraged with the strong support of volunteer clinical faculty.

2000: Jacinto Hernández, Jeffrey Brown, and Edwin Asturias provide leadership in creating residency rotations in Latin America.

2002: School of Medicine Dean Krugman creates and chairs the Curriculum Improvement Task Force to review existing educational programs and explore best practices nationwide. Robin Deterding, associate dean for Clinical Curriculum, and Bruce Wallace, assistant dean for Essentials Core Curriculum, lead the project for the School of Medicine.

2004: M. Douglas Jones, Jr. establishes the Committee on Fellowship Education (COFE). Chaired initially by Mary Glodé and Mark Roback, COFE’s core curriculum allows fellows from all pediatric disciplines to address pertinent career and scholarly topics.

2006: The Department of Pediatrics implements the new curriculum. All third-year medical students complete a six-week rotation in the Infant, Child, and Adolescent Care Clerkship directed by Jennifer Soep and Julie Noffsinger.

2006: Carol Kamin and Robin Deterding create Project L.I.V.E. (Learning through Interactive Video Education) to ensure pediatric trainees in the region’s rural areas quality access to training and mentors.

2007: Shale Wong co-directs the new CU-LEADS (Leadership, Education, Advocacy, Development, Scholarship) track within the medical school; Steven Federico and Stephen Berman guide advocacy components.

2007: “The New University of Colorado Medical School Curriculum: A Pediatric Perspective” is published in The Journal of Pediatrics. Authors include Robin Deterding, Shale Wong, S. Glenn Faries, Jacqueline Glover, Timothy Garrington, Michael Wang, Marsha Anderson, and Richard Krugman.

2007: The School’s mandatory Mentored Scholarly Activity Program launches under the direction of Shale Wong, Clerkship Director for the Department of Pediatrics.

2009: Resident Research Day begins under the guidance of Stephen Daniels and leadership of Marsha Anderson. The annual event showcases residents’ mentored research projects and features keynote speakers with successful academic research careers.

2014: The combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency program begins.

2018: Colorado REACH (Race, Education, and Advocacy in Community Health) launches. Part of the Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency program, the four-year longitudinal curriculum focuses on care of vulnerable patients.

2018: The School of Medicine begins discussions on a new curriculum revision slated for adoption in 2022. Tai Lockspeiser is chosen to lead implementation as assistant dean of Medical Education – Assessment, Evaluation, and Outcomes.