Announcement Regarding Dr. David Hirsh, Executive Vice President for Research

July 9, 2010

Dear fellow member of the Columbia community:

It is with regret that I write to inform you that Dr. David Hirsh will be stepping down from his position as Executive Vice President for Research.  

In 2003, I asked David to assume the newly created post of EVP for Research to build a University-wide office for supporting research and establishing greater consistency in compliance practices and policies.  As an admired scholar and researcher at CUMC, and at the time of his appointment, the Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, David was well prepared for leading this effort.  

David has been successful in creating a strong foundation for this new office.  Among his many contributions, David has overseen the consolidation and restructuring of six operating units and has created three new units, streamlining and standardizing research services, enhancing research compliance, and mitigating compliance risk during a period of unprecedented growth, when sponsored research expenditures have increased nearly 50%.  He has developed training programs for faculty and staff in federal regulations and internal policies related to research, designed initiatives to help faculty secure funding for research, and focused new attention on postdoctoral affairs.

I am grateful for all that David has achieved in this challenging administrative assignment.  But most of all, I believe I speak for so many colleagues in saying how grateful I am for David’s warmth, good humor, and collegiality.  He is a person of enormous integrity and kindness. This spirit has characterized his thoughtful approach to the important work he has done with and for so many of us at the University.

I will launch a search process for his successor over the summer.  Until a successor is named, David has agreed to remain in the position.  We are delighted that he will then return to his own scholarly pursuits uptown.  For the present, please join me in recognizing Dr. David Hirsh for his many contributions to science, and for his dedication to Columbia. 

Sincerely,

Lee C. Bollinger