NEW YORK, NY, April 10, 2006 – Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger today announced the appointment of Lee Goldman, M.D., MPH, as Columbia University’s new Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine.

Dr. Goldman is a professor and associate dean at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF).  He will assume his post at Columbia in late June, succeeding Gerald D. Fischbach, M.D., who last year announced his plans to step down in June 2006.  Dr. Goldman will have appointments as the Harold and Margaret Hatch Professor of the University, as Professor of Medicine in the College of Physicians & Surgeons, and as Professor of Epidemiology in Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Goldman chairs the highly ranked UCSF Department of Medicine, which receives more financing in grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) than any other academic department of any kind in the United States.  He is  the Julius R. Krevans Distinguished Professor and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at the UCSF School of Medicine.

President Lee Bollinger with Lee Goldman, MD, MPH, the new Executive Vice President for Biomedical Sciences and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine

“For a great urban university dedicated to a mission of teaching, research and public service, Lee Goldman’s appointment could hardly be more appropriate or exciting,” said President Bollinger. “He has proven himself an extraordinary leader in the world of academic medicine at two of Columbia’s greatest peer institutions, ably bringing together the highest quality medical care for patients, path-breaking research, a commitment to the wider community, as well as management skills that are absolutely essential to the success of a large, academic medical complex in the 21st Century.”

This appointment by Columbia follows by three weeks the announcement of the University’s largest ever gift, a more than $200 million gift from Dawn M. Greene and the Jerome L. Greene Foundation to establish the Jerome L. Greene Science Center, a new research and teaching facility that will serve as the intellectual home for Columbia's expanding initiative in Mind, Brain and Behavior.  The Goldman appointment is a further signal of Columbia University Medical Center’s commitment to excellence in patient care, research and education.

“Columbia is home to some of the greatest researchers in academic medicine and the health sciences, including Nobel Prize winners who are renowned across the globe,” said Dr. Goldman.  “It is also home to thousands of dedicated health professionals committed to improving the quality of life for families in our own neighborhood and around the world.  My responsibility is to create a diverse environment where the best clinicians, researchers, teachers and students can have the resources and institutional support to expand the frontiers of scientific knowledge, improve health care for our society and train the next generation to sustain and enhance this mission.  It’s an enormous challenge and a wonderful opportunity.”

A pioneer in the application of statistical analysis to key areas of clinical medicine, Dr. Goldman has developed innovative predictive models used by clinical investigators and practicing physicians throughout the world.  The most widely used of these models are the Goldman Index for assessing cardiac risk involved in non-cardiac surgeries and the Goldman Criteria to determine which patients with chest pain require hospital admission.  Another of his analytical products, the Coronary Heart Disease Policy Model, established priorities for preventing and treating coronary disease.  In San Francisco, he also created the first academic hospitalist program (physicians with solely hospital inpatient practice).

“For the past 10 years Lee Goldman has played a critical role in the leadership of the largest single department in the UCSF School of Medicine,” said Clyde Wu, M.D., University Trustee and chair of the Health Sciences Committee of the Columbia University Board of Trustees.  “He has demonstrated great success in building partnerships with different constituencies in large, multi-faceted academic medical centers like Columbia and in integrating resources to address the challenges facing biomedical science, education, and patient care today.”

At Columbia, Dr. Goldman will head a medical center that includes four health sciences professional schools, 3,300 students enrolled in 86 departments and programs, more than 2,000 full-time faculty, 64 centers and institutes, some 40 biomedical research and treatment centers, and physician practice affiliations with two dozen hospitals.  Columbia University Medical Center has an annual operating budget of $1.2 billion and $628 million in sponsored research grants from the NIH and individual foundations.

“Lee Goldman took a fine department of medicine at UCSF and transformed it into a spectacular one.  We have every confidence that he will bring the Columbia University Medical Center and its College of Physicians & Surgeons to a new level of excellence,” said Eric Kandel, M.D., University Professor and Nobel Laureate at Columbia.

A cardiologist by training, Dr. Goldman has been at UCSF since 1995.  Prior to that, he had served on the faculty at Harvard since 1978.  There he was a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.  He was also Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine and later Chief Medical Officer at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and served as a member of the operating committee of the Partners Healthcare System, all in Boston. 

Dr. Goldman received his undergraduate and medical degrees at Yale University, where he also earned a master’s degree in public health (MPH).  He fulfilled his internship and residency at UCSF and at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a clinical fellowship in cardiology at Yale University School of Medicine.  

“Dr. Goldman is a perfect match for the opportunities at Columbia. He is not only a leader of amazing innovations in medical education and biomedical research development, but also a long-standing champion of health promotion and primary prevention,” said Julie Gerberding, M.D., Director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Dr. Goldman is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and past president of the Association of American Physicians and the Society of General Internal Medicine.   He has been the recipient of the Society of General Internal Medicine’s highest honor (the Glaser Award) and received the Blake Award from the Association of American Physicians. 

Dr. Goldman is currently serving as President of the Association of Professors of Medicine and was previously a director of the American Board of Internal Medicine.  He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.  A past editor of The American Journal of Medicine, he currently serves as the lead editor of the renowned Cecil Textbook of Medicine and as co-editor of Hospital Medicine and Primary Cardiology.

Dr. Goldman’s research has focused on the cost and effectiveness of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, with special emphasis on how the delivery of medical care can be improved based on the results of quality clinical investigation. His work has applied the latest analytical methods and computer-simulation models to integrate public health and clinical medicine assessment.

Among his more than 400 publications are more than 20 first- or senior-authored articles in The New England Journal of Medicine.  Many of those who trained with him are now leaders in cardiology, general internal medicine, and public health nationally and internationally.  Dr. Goldman was a creator of the Harvard Program in Clinical Effectiveness, which was one of the models for an NIH program that trains physician investigators at academic medical centers throughout the country.

Dr. Goldman’s wife, Jill S. Goldman, M.S., MPhil, is a clinician, educator and researcher.  She has been a genetic counselor in the UCSF Department of Neurology and an assistant clinical professor in the UCSF School of Nursing.  Her focus is on patient care and research aspects of hereditary adult-onset neurological diseases, such as dementia and ALS.  She has coordinated genetic research and genetic risk assessment and has taught nursing students specializing in genomics.

Jill Goldman has also played leadership roles in the National Society of Genetic Counseling and is a member of the American Society of Human Genetics and the American College of Medical Genetics.  Her professional activities there have included chairing the Neurogenetics Special Interest Group, chairing an education conference course in neurogenetics, and membership on the ethics subcommittee. 

Mrs. Goldman graduated cum laude from Goucher College with a B.A., from Yale University with an MPhil in biology, and an M.S. degree from the University of California at Berkeley.


Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, nurses, dentists, and public health professionals at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the Mailman School of Public Health, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions.  www.cumc.columbia.edu

Founded in 1754 as King’s College, Columbia University in the City of New York is the fifth oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and today is one of the world’s leading academic and research institutions. Columbia has more than 3,000 faculty members and enrolls nearly 24,000 students, including more than 5,000 international students. The University spans three undergraduate schools, 13 graduate and professional schools, a school of continuing education, four affiliated institutions, a world-class medical center, 22 libraries, and more than 100 research centers and institutes.   www.columbia.edu