Chris DeFrancesco '94 (CLAS)

Chris DeFrancesco has been writing for UConn Health since 2007. He is a proud graduate of UConn’s journalism program. As an undergraduate in Storrs he was one of the play-by-play voices of UConn men’s and women’s basketball on WHUS-FM, a writer for the Daily Campus, and a campus shuttle bus driver. He’s been a freelance writer, editor of two weekly newspapers (Bloomfield Journal and Windsor Locks Journal), and most notably a reporter and anchor on WTIC NewsTalk 1080. He is a four-time winner of the Connecticut Associated Press Broadcasters Association Walt Dibble Award for Personal Excellence in Radio. His work also has earned recognition from the Connecticut pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Chris is an elected officer in his union (UHP Local 3837) and serves on the board of the Newington Children’s Theatre Company, Connecticut’s longest-running youth theatre program. He lives in Newington with his wife, Caroline, daughter, Audrey, and their dogs, Spot and Alex.


Author Archive

Woman using touch screen

Spending Less Time in Line

UConn Health introduces kiosks to speed up check-in.

Drs. Jordan Borgman and Mary Guerrera with the Whole Health Wheel

VA Brings ‘Whole Health’ Workshop to UConn Health

Innovative model aims to shift the approach from “What’s the matter with you?” to “What matters to you?”

illustration of a muscular scientist fighting an oversized virus using a vaccine syringe in an arena shaped like a Petri dish.

Fortifying the Flu Shot

The UConn Center on Aging is seeking study participants to test a method of making the influenza vaccine more effective in keeping elderly patients flu-free.

Amannda Ramsdell taking local resident's blood pressure

On the Ground in the Hurricane-ravaged Bahamas  

Dr. Natalie Moore and nurse Amannda Ramsdell from the UConn Health Emergency Department were part of a relief mission to the Bahamas with the International Medical Corps. (Updated Sept. 23)

Drs. Kathy Coyner, Olga Solovyova, Lauren Geaney outside UConn Musculoskeletal Institute with University Tower in background

Operating, Though Outnumbered, in Orthopedics

UConn Health's female orthopedic surgeons share their experiences training and practicing in a male-dominated specialty, and describe the landscape for the the young women who may follow them.

Lauren Brennan portrait

‘I’m a Nurse… I Can’t Let You Do This’

UConn Health nurse practitioner shares her story of how she talked a disturbed patient off the ledge.

October 2019 calendar page graphic

UConn Health October 2019 Programs, Events

What's on the schedule at UConn Health in October and early November 2019?

Sepsis, bacteria in blood. 3D illustration showing rod-shaped bacteria with red blood cells and leukocytes

Sepsis: When Infection Leads to Critical Illness

UConn Health’s hospital epidemiologist explains sepsis and what UConn Health is doing to prevent, recognize, and treat it.

Ketan Bulsara, M.D., M.B.A, and Daniel Roberts M.D., Ph.D., with the new Augmented Reality Microscope in the Hybrid OR at UConn John Dempsey Hospital. (Kristin Wallace/UConn Health Photo)

Neurosurgery Residency Places UConn Health in Exclusive Group

UConn Health "is positioned to train the next generation of leaders in neurological surgery, who I’m convinced will one day find solutions for problems that perplex us today," says Dr. Ketan Bulsara, chief of the division of neurosurgery.

September 2019 calendar page

UConn Health September 2019 Programs, Events

Here is a list of UConn Health programs scheduled for September and early October 2019. This information will be updated with any additions or other schedule changes.