Simulating exercise at 14,000 feet while in a clinic at CU Anschutz

When William Cornwell, MD, MSCS, came to Colorado eight years ago, he told Diane Branham, RN, BSN, about his plans to study the heart and heart failure. He wanted to observe healthy individuals exercising with a catheter inserted in their heart. “Her eyes got really wide,” recalls Dr. Cornwell. He has been doing exactly as he planned at the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI), conducting studies and adding to the knowledge clinicians have about how the heart and lungs perform while exercising on top of a mountain such as Pike’s Peak (elevation 14,115 feet).