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Michael Hirsh, MD |
Pediatric trauma surgeon Michael Hirsh, MD, is being honored by the Massachusetts Medical Society as the 2017 recipient of its Men’s Health Award. The award recognizes an individual who has advanced the cause of men’s health in the commonwealth. Dr. Hirsh, professor of surgery and pediatrics at UMass Medical School, will receive the award at the society’s Men’s Health Symposium on June 15.
His colleagues cited Hirsh’s work as a leading advocate for public health, injury prevention and child safety in nominating him for the award.
In addition to his academic duties and clinical roles as chief of pediatric surgery, director of pediatric trauma services and surgeon-in-chief at UMass Memorial Medical Center, Hirsh has served the City of Worcester to improve public health and reduce violence in a variety of capacities. In 2000, he established the Injury Free Coalition for Kids, and was its president from 2008 to 2010. In 2002, he helped to establish the city’s annual Goods for Guns program, a buyback program that continues to make city streets safer from gun violence. In 2014, he was appointed medical director of the Worcester Department of Public Health after serving as acting commissioner since 2012.
Also active in the Worcester District Medical Society, Hirsh served as its president from 2011 to 2014. He is currently a member of its legislative and public health committees and the editorial board of its official publication Worcester Medicine.
The Men’s Health Award is the latest of more than three dozen honors presented to Hirsh over the years for his teaching, health care and community service. He has previously been honored by the Massachusetts Medical Society with two of its most prestigious awards, the Grant V. Rodkey Award for Medical Student Education in 2003, and the Henry Ingersoll Bowditch Award for Excellence in Public Health in 2010. He is the recipient of the Worcester District Medical Society’s Community Clinician of the Year and its A. J. Fitzpatrick Community Service Award and the Salvation Army’s Health Care Hero Award. He is also a 16-time winner of UMass Medical School’s Outstanding Medical Educator Award.
