The heart of the matter
By Lisa Nicklanovich; photo courtesy of Bianca McCarty Photography
The Hupp family from left to right, Ava, Michael, Alice, Colleen, Harrison, and dogs Dakota and Apache. Dr. Colleen Hupp recommends we all get a baseline checkup to evaluate our risk factors for peripheral vascular disease, which are the same risk factors for heart disease. Hupp notes that women are often underdiagnosed.
Maybe you think about your overall health, but do you think about your blood vessel health? As a vascular surgeon, Dr. Colleen Hupp wants to raise awareness about cardiovascular health. Hupp specializes in peripheral vascular disease (PVD), a blood circulation disorder that causes the blood vessels outside of your heart and brain to narrow, block, or spasm.
Through the surgeries she performs, Hupp changes how people get to live their lives.
Hupp attended medical school at the University of Health Sciences in Missouri. During her general surgery residency at the University of Kansas, she worked with the chairman of surgery who was a vascular surgeon. “I liked the operations and thought they were technically very challenging and very interesting. Once I got into the field, I saw that it is a great population to take care of and you get to really effect the quality of life,” Hupp said.
Dr. Colleen Hupp finds great fulfillment working as a vascular surgeon at Sky Ridge Medical Center.
Hupp is passionate about her job and loves the planning and problem solving that’s involved. “I like that not every case is the same and figuring out and tailoring what is the best thing for each patient,” Hupp said.
Hupp grew up in Lakewood and her husband, an equine veterinarian, grew up in Littleton. The couple made it through medical school, veterinary school, residencies, being apart for two years while Hupp completed her vascular surgery fellowship at the University of Missouri and her husband completed his training in Missouri… and three kids. They returned to Colorado and settled in Castle Pines in 2015 after looking for the right time and the right practice. “It worked out perfectly,” Hupp said with a smile.
Hupp is an avid equestrian who has been riding for 30 years. The family has two horses and a pony, which the kids help take care of.
Hupp said riding her horse is, “My place to go and unwind and get rid of the stress and forget about everything. I just focus on the horse when I’m out there.”
According to the Journal of Vascular Surgery, only six percent of all members of the Society of Vascular Surgery are women.
Hupp has helped pave the way for many female surgeons, and she is generous in her desire to mentor young women residents to “make sure they know they have lots of choices and options and that they can do it,” she said.
