A Message from the President | University of Colorado

Eric Coleman receives prestigious MacArthur Fellowship
Doc researches elder-care issues that often are overlooked

I received wonderful news this week as the MacArthur Foundation announced Eric Coleman as one of its 2012 fellowship recipients. The so-called "genius grant" is a great honor for Coleman and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Coleman, one of 23 MacArthur Fellows for 2012, learned through an unexpected phone call from the foundation that he will receive $500,000 in support during the next five years with no strings attached. MacArthur Fellowships offer recipients unprecedented freedom and opportunity to reflect, create and explore, according to the foundation.

It is also welcome news for an aging Colorado population. Coleman, professor of medicine and head of the Division of Health Care Policy and Research in the School of Medicine, is a leader in geriatric and chronic disease care. His research focuses on areas that are often overlooked and underreported, such as miscommunications and errors that occur as patients transition from hospitals to post-discharge homes, sub-acute care facilities or other sites of care.

Elderly patients are particularly vulnerable during these transitions: Coleman's research found an estimated 20 percent of Medicare patients discharged to their homes from hospitals are readmitted within 30 days, and the majority of these costly readmissions are preventable. Coleman has worked closely with patients and families, health care providers and policymakers to address systemwide deficiencies that may result in poor patient outcomes.

Seven CU-Boulder faculty members have received the MacArthur Fellowship since the program began in 1981: Deborah Jin, physics, 2003; Daniel Jurafsky, associate professor of linguistics and computer science, 2002; Norman Pace, molecular, cellular and developmental biology, 2001; Margaret Murnane, physics, 2000; Patricia (Patty) Limerick of history in 1995; Charles Archambeau, physics, 1988; and David Hawkins, philosophy, 1981.

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