Austin Butterfield, MD

Austin Butterfield, MD, is an alumnus of both CU Boulder and the CU School of Medicine. Currently, he is a faculty member at the School of Medicine and works with children and teens experiencing mental health crises and emergencies at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Dr. Butterfield loved his experiences at CU because of connections and mentorship. “Sometimes mentors and faculty members act like parents. I have had great parents in medicine,” he explains. He is also grateful for the opportunities to learn and grow in large part due to scholarships. During his time at CU Boulder, he received a Woodruff Scholarship and became a member of the selection committee for several years. As a medical student, Dr. Butterfield also received an Adler Scholarship in his fourth year due to his work with one of his mentors, Rita Lee, MD, to create one of the first sexual health history curriculums in the country.

Dr. Butterfield is passionate about the Adler Scholarship ideals and eventually became the co-chair of the Adler Scholarship Committee in 2012. He said, “The Adler Scholarship is really designed to reward students for positively impacting their community when they did not expect a reward or other personal benefit. It is about humanism, connection and impact in Colorado.”

“It has always been important for me to give back. I know that I would not be here without the support of scholarships promoted by the generations of alumni before me. Even when I was a resident and didn’t have much money, I gave what I could. Some years it might only be $25, but I wanted to be part of the group supporting our school and our students.”