Dr. Calvin Hirsch

Dr. Calvin Hirsch is well known throughout the U.C. Davis university area. However, over the course of his career, he has touched many lives, both educationally and medically. Dr. Calvin Hirsch has dedicated his life to helping supervise medical residents care for complex patients on the inpatient medical service; as well as supervising residents in the outpatient General Medicine Clinic and in the Internal Medicine Geriatrics Clinic, which he directed for 30 years. In the inpatient setting and through lectures, Dr. Calvin Hirsch has taught generations of medical students. Some of Dr. Hirsch's trainees have gone on to prestigious careers in academic geriatrics. Dr. Calvin Hirsch knew that he wanted to become a doctor by the time he started college. He started his collegiate career by attending Yale University, where he earned a degree in 1976. From there, he attended the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He then took the next steps to make his dream a reality and accepted an internship and residency in internal medicine at Mt. Zion Hospital and Medical Center in San Francisco from 1980 to 1983. From 1983 to 1985, Dr. Calvin Hirsch completed two years of service with the National Health Service Corps in the Tenderloin of San Francisco, a community in the heart of downtown San Francisco. He was primarily responsible for seeing low-income seniors who, for the most part, lived alone. He felt a great deal of responsibility for ensuring these patients got the medical care they needed, as he knew many did not have family that could help or drive them to medical appointments. In fact, this two-year period proved to be lifealtering. This experience motivated him to decline a planned fellowship in infectious diseases and, instead, complete a two-year Robert Wood Johnson fellowship at Stanford, researching geriatric health care policy. This is ultimately where he decided to focus on geriatric medicine. Upon completing this assignment, Mr. Calvin Hirsch went to the Palo Alto, California VA office, where he worked for two years as a medical director in long-term care. Dr. Calvin Hirsch decided to accept a position with the Division of General Medicine at U.C. Davis Health.

He initially started as an assistant, but steadily moved up the ranks to become a full professor over the course of his 31-year-long academic career with U.C. Davis. During the course of his career with U.C. Davis, Dr. Hirsch also successfully ran the U.C. Davis Geriatrics Clinic until its closure in 2021. When the clinic closed, it was transformed as part of the Healthy Aging Initiative. Over the course of his career at U.C. Davis, Calvin Hirsch also ran the U.C. Davis Geriatrics Fellowship from 1990 to the early 2000s. U.C. Davis became the place where Mr. Hirsch stayed for most of his career. As such, Davis, California, became a place where he created a life for himself. During the course of his lengthy career, Dr. Calvin Hirsch has enjoyed many successes and accomplishments. Notably, Dr. Hirsch was voted one of the top doctors in Sacramento from 2018 through 2021. While Dr. Calvin Hirsch officially retired in July 2021, he has been called up to continue clinical supervision and teach at U.C. Davis. Dr. Hirsch is currently the U.C. Davis principal investigator for the Cardiovascular Health Study. This project is being funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the NIH. When the project ends, Hirsch is unsure whether he will completely retire, or whether there are new projects that will come along that he will participate in. However, at this time, Dr. Hirsch continues to help out the community and be involved at U.C. Davis. Dr. Hirsch loves his career, but it is not the only important element in his life. Hirsch is a proud parent to two amazing daughters, Dona and Emily. Dona, who has a Masters of Public Health, currently lives in Bali, Indonesia, with her husband and Hirsch's two granddaughters. Emily is currently working as a speech pathologist in Southern California. Dr. Calvin Hirsch has spent his life serving others and helping them make the most of their life. He has also devoted his time to raising daughters who are also caring and helpful. U.C. Davis has played a huge role in his career, something that is still ongoing at this very moment.