13 State Legislators Call on CU Anschutz to Replace Animals in Deadly Surgery Course

DENVER, Colo.—Every May, the University of Colorado Anschutz conducts a controversial exercise increasingly out of step with most medical centers: Surgeons-in-training cut open live animals to remove organs and perform procedures. Then staff kill the animals. But 13 state legislators want to see that practice stopped. In a letter sent last Thursday, the senators and representatives urge CU Anschutz Chancellor Donald Elliman to “employ modern training methods in order to benefit both patients and animals.” The letter was organized by Senate President Pro Tempore Cathy Kipp and signed by House Majority Leader Monica Duran, among others.

The letter builds on years of work by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit medical ethics group, to convince CU Anschutz to follow the example set by most universities and hospitals across the country. According to the group’s ongoing survey, 80 percent of surgery programs teach using only cadavers or advanced simulators modeled on human anatomy and physiology. That list includes the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, Yale University, and hundreds of other institutions.

Public records obtained by the Physicians Committee from CU Anschutz show the medical center used live pigs in training exercises in May 2023, 2024, and 2025. Plans for this year are unknown.

“Colorado patients deserve doctors trained on human anatomy,” said Sen. Kipp. “If Harvard and Stanford can train surgeons without harming animals, CU can too.”

Scientific studies conducted by the U.S. Army, Johns Hopkins University, and others have concluded that methods based on human anatomy are superior or at least equivalent to animals for training surgeons. A 2020 military study showed that practicing on the Human Worn Surgical Simulator (or “Cut Suit”)—with lifelike skin, breakable bones, and a pumping artificial heart—improves how quickly trainees resuscitate a wounded patient by 10 minutes and reduces medical errors. These tools allow surgeons to perform a procedure multiple times, something not possible when using live animals.

“CU should be using the latest tools to train doctors,” said Grace Holub, MD, a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologic surgeon who recently retired from 30 years of clinical practice. “When I look back on my experience practicing on animals in medical school, I realize it was completely unnecessary, even back then.” Dr. Holub lives in Parker, Colo.

To see a copy of the letter or to speak with Dr. Holub, please contact Reina Pohl at 202-527-7326 or rpohl [at] pcrm.org.