Worcester’s Dr Hirsh receives Lifetime Achievement award…

Dr. Michael P. Hirsh, medical director for the city’s Division of Public Health was recognized for his 30 plus years or work in the field of injury prevention with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr Hirsh is co-founder of Goods For Guns.  As a pediatric doctor he felt if he did not put a significant amount of his energy into the prevention of injuries he would just be patching them up and sending them back into the streets to get injured or worse again.

During Forging New Frontiers, the annual conference of the Injury Free Coalition for Kids this week, Michael P. Hirsh, MD, FACS, FAAP received The Coalition’s Lifetime Achievement Award recognizing his 30 years of work in the field of Injury Prevention. The Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at UMass Medical School and Surgeon-in Chief of the UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center in Worcester, MA. is also Division Chief of Pediatric Surgery and Trauma and Associate Surgical Director of the Trauma Center and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

His career has focused on the development and implementation of innovative interventions to prevent pediatric injury and address firearm injuries. Following the loss of his best friend to a firearm injury, he became the co-founder of Goods for Guns, a firearm exchange program that has taken more than 3,200 guns off the street over the last 15 years. In 2012, his prevention work led him to be invited to serve as the Medical Director for the Department of Public Health for the Central Massachusetts. Regional Public Health Alliance, a consortium of seven municipalities in Central Massachusetts including Worcester, New England’s 2nd largest city. Injury prevention is now one of the five top priorities of the regions Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) aiming to make the region the healthiest in New England by 2020.

About the Injury Free Coalition for Kids®

The Injury Free Coalition for Kids is the place to turn for the country’s most effective venue for generating injury prevention research and community based programming. The Coalition is comprised of hospital-based, community oriented programs whose efforts are anchored in research, education, and advocacy. It is made up of nearly 40 sites located in level I and II trauma centers in major metropolitan areas across the country. All of the sites are independent, programs driven by the Coalition’s mission: “Prevent Injury to Children.” The Coalition is the place to turn for physicians looking to make a difference.