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
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