Lee J. Hirsch, JD, is a member of the faculty at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management where he teaches in Columbia’s Consulting Practice and the Thomas P. Ference Health System Simulation. In addition, he also teaches personal leadership in public health to first year MPH students. Hirsch is an attorney in private practice specializing in healthcare and corporate transactions but has been practicing law for over 30 years in a variety of settings. Some of Hirsch’s experience includes being an associate and partner of an international law firm where he specialized in healthcare, private equity, securities law, and mergers and acquisitions.

Subsequent to his law firm life, he became general counsel at NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, formerly known as New York Downtown Hospital. His career has focused on physician practices, regulatory compliance, healthcare structures and the acquisition and disposition of healthcare organizations. During his tenure at New York Downtown Hospital, he was a member of the senior management team of the hospital as he served as a senior vice president, responsible for legal affairs, risk management and compliance. He served as interim head of human resources and acted as chief of staff to the CEO and liaison to the board of trustees of the hospital. He was involved in a variety of operational issues and confronted the challenges of a small, New York City-based, community hospital. Hirsch earned his Juris Doctorate from the NYU School of Law and has a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.