An eastern gal's intro to the west

I would love to say "hello from Denver" but unfortunately even though I wrote this while I was still there...I dropped the ball after trying to figure out formatting and am now back east. Anyways, I spent the past almost 7 weeks out west, 6 of which were in Denver where I was living in the mile high city and leaning into colorado life. As an east coaster through and through it was a shock to experience the dry HEAT (constant need for electrolytes), desert plains, and the emphasis on work life balance that westerners seem to share. They’re also all so nice, I swear I’ve never had so many conversations with strangers in my life.

A nice weekend trip about an hour from downtown ft. cliff jumping!

 I’ve been participating in the Summer Institute in Biostatistics (Colorado branch of SIBS) at the CU Medical Campus. It’s fully funded by the NIH and has been a great opportunity to learn more about biostatistics and coding methods as well as meet a variety of students and professionals in the field.

In the mornings I take the (hour 15 minute…) train -> bus ride to the school of public health from my dorm/apartment in downtown to the suburbs and attend morning class on a variety of topics (both theory and application based). Then, after class I do research with one of the professors in the biostatistics and informatics department. Research wise, I spent 5 weeks building models using machine learning methods to predict respiratory failure in patients that are waking up from anesthesia post kidney transplantation surgery. A mouthful, I know. But kinda cool! Pretty much though, I just spend a lot of time coding. And last Friday, I participated in my first ever hackathon (it was 6 hours and I was exhausted by the end BUT I did win a Colorado mug among other things!!).

The Health Sciences Building is my favorite place to work on campus.

That being said, by no means has my summer been all nerding out. I met an awesome squad of friends from all over the country (who are also nerds) and together we’ve taken advantage of what Denver and the surrounding area has to offer. Hikes, trips to the park, concerts, Meow Wolf (I won’t even try to describe it), picnics, and much more! A few of us also formed a band so we’d get together a few times a week to jam which was always a good time (and reinforcing the stereotype that quantitative people and musicians often go hand in hand…one of my friends brought a keyboard, trumpet, 3 guitars, a bass, and drumsticks with him).

Summer Sessions at a park near where we live.

Summiting one of the ski mountains in Breckinridge, makeshift flag edition.

Lake day with my friends!

I’ve also been exploring the limits of what we call “the parent network” so I’ve been meeting up with friends my mom and dad have out here each week (which there seems to be a lot of? I guess the boston -> denver doctor pipeline is real). It’s been lots of fun getting to see them after 10+ years and hear tales of their college and med school days. 

Sadly my calf injury has been persistent but I found a wonderful PT, Matt, who has dialed me in on a recovery plan that will hopefully have me back for our favorite fall runs around the Purple Valley. In place of running, I’ve been doing lots of road biking, rollerskiing (ask me about the local masters skier that joined me for intervals), and ellipticalling (yep, my new best friend) among other things. 

Keeping up with the at-home PT post OD! (love/hate relationship with the metal scraper)

After packing up in a whirlwind post hackathon, I boarded a plane and set out to Sun Valley to see our very own Moocienne. We had lots of fun adventuring around, Luci showing me all the classic spots and introducing me to her friends and teammates. And of course, I was treated to some awesome meals by Becky and Steve!

An evening stroll through the canyon next to Luci's neighborhood.

That's all I got on the west and I can't wait to see the rest of you all in a few short weeks!

- Fran