🔒Dr. Michael Hirsh retires as Worcester’s public health medical director

Following a 13-year tenure as the medical director of the City of Worcester Division of Public Health, including serving as the face of the City’s response during the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Michael Hirsh has retired from the role. “My proudest moment at WDPH was serving as a public information officer during the pandemic, leading over 200 press conferences with the City Manager and Mayor and helping to train the Vaccine Corps of medical students who helped administer the COVID vaccine beginning in January 2021,” Hirsh said in a Friday press release from the City. Hirsh stepped down on Friday after originally being named the City’s medical director in 2012. At the time of his hiring, Hirsh had worked as division chief of pediatric surgery and trauma at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. Today, he still works in academic medicine, serving at UMass Chan Medical School as the Worcester university’s assistant vice provost for health and wellness and the chief quality officer for the Department of Surgery. Under Hirsh’s leadership in 2016, WDPH became the first Massachusetts accredited public health department, joining only 116 other accredited public health departments to have earned the designation at the time, according to the Massachusetts Municipal Association. Before ceasing practice as a surgeon, Hirsh worked at UMMC for his entire career as a physician since 1986, minus nine years that he spent in Pittsburgh. “UMass Memorial Health deeply appreciates Dr. Michael Hirsh’s service as medical director for the Worcester Division of Public Health and the positive impact his leadership has had on the community over the last 13 years,” Dr. Eric Dickson, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health, said in the release. “We are working closely with the WDPH to identify a successor and remain fully committed to supporting the health and wellness of Worcester residents through our continued partnership.” From 2012 to 2014, Hirsh worked as acting commissioner of what was then known as the City’s Department of Public Health. “Dr. Hirsh has been a champion for the health of Worcester residents in all aspects of his life, from his role as medical director to his career at UMass to his charity work,” Worcester City Manager Eric Batista said in the release. “He dedicated his career to not just helping people when they found themselves sick or injured but trying to prevent them from ending up in the hospital in the first place. I want to thank Dr. Hirsh for his commitment to Worcester residents and in particular for the work he did to carry us through the pandemic.” Outside of his municipal and health care work, Hirsh is the co-founder of the Goods for Guns buyback program. He established the initiative in Pittsburgh in 2002 after the gun violence-related death of Dr. John Chase Wood, Hirsh’s best friend during his residency at what is now known as NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He later brought Good for Guns to Worcester. Hirsh graduated with his medical degree from Harvard University in Cambridge. He is the son of two Holocaust survivors. The City is collaborating with UMass Memorial to select Hirsh’s successor. Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.