Message from the Chancellor
A New Model for Innovation and Patient Impact, 8-18-2026
Dear Colleagues,
Every day across our campus, we are working toward the same goal: improving lives. Achieving that goal requires more than breakthrough discoveries. It also requires the partnerships and capabilities to turn those discoveries into better care for patients.
As we continue establishing new pathways to translate discoveries from the laboratory to the clinic, one partnership has become a defining example of that work: RefinedScience. Created by CU Anschutz and UCHealth, the company combines biological data, clinical expertise and data science to give researchers deeper insight into disease and new opportunities to develop more effective treatments.
Launched five years ago through CU Anschutz Innovations, RefinedScience originated with our work in difficult-to-treat blood cancers such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and is now bringing the power of big data and advanced analytics to uncover new insights in pancreatic and ovarian cancers.
The model has already led to breakthroughs in our understanding of AML and the launch of OncoVerity, a spinout company advancing a new therapeutic targeting this aggressive blood cancer. This work is also attracting industry collaborators like Verily – a data company that’s powering AI-enabled precision health – opening new doors for bringing discoveries made right here to patients everywhere.
RefinedScience demonstrates our ability to move discoveries into impact quickly, shortening the distance between the laboratory and the clinic. It also reflects something larger. It is an example of the collaborative approach that distinguishes CU Anschutz ‒ bringing together our researchers, clinicians, hospital affiliates and industry partners to solve problems in ways few academic medical campuses can.
As we pursue our top 10 in 10 vision, partnerships like RefinedScience are an essential part of how we will get there. They strengthen our ability to tackle medicine’s most complex challenges while extending the impact of the exceptional work happening across our campus every day.
We invite you to read more here about our partnership with RefinedScience and the fascinating possibilities this work is bringing into reach. If you’d like to learn more, please reach out to the CU Anschutz Innovations team.
Sincerely,
Don Elliman
Chancellor
Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Biotechnology
Executive Director, CU Anschutz Innovations
John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA
Richard D. Krugman Endowed Chair
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs
Dean, CU Anschutz School of Medicine