(Click
here to link to press release)
Dr. Michael
Belzer is Medical Director (Chief Medical Officer) of Hennepin County
Medical Center (HCMC), a 400-bed public safety net hospital and academic
medical center. He serves also as the Medical Director for Hennepin
County's Community Health Department. Dr. Belzer has been Medical Director
of HCMC and Community Health for the past 14 years; prior to that, he
served as the Associate HCMC Medical Director for Academic Affairs.
As HCMC Medical
Director, Dr. Belzer serves as its Chief Medical Officer with direct
responsibilities for oversight of all quality of medical care provided
in the institution, all medical education programs, for the important
interface among the 600-member medical staff, hospital administration,
and the Hennepin County Board, and for all issues having to do with
medical policy at the Medical Center. He represents HCMC and its medical
staff to other agencies including local, state and federal government,
professional societies, the University of Minnesota, and various regulatory
agencies with which the Medical Center must communicate.
Dr. Belzer
is recognized as a national authority in the provision of medical care
to the disadvantaged, vulnerable, and underserved, and is the longest
sitting single institution medical director in the entire National Association
of Public Hospitals (NAPH), which represents the 100 largest safety
net hospitals in the United States. He advises the NAPH Medical Leadership
Training Program.
Dr. Belzer
is an Associate Dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School and
the first member of the Dean's office to be located off the University
of Minnesota Campus. He has been awarded the Distinguished Teaching
Award of the Minnesota Medical Foundation, and the HCMC Teacher of the
Year. Dr. Belzer chairs the Metro Minnesota Council on Graduate Medical
Education (MMCGME), which represents the four major affiliated teaching
hospitals of the University of Minnesota Medical School in the training
of Medical Students and Medical Residents. At any one time Hennepin
County Medical Center has on-site training for 265 medical residents
and 85 medical students from the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Dr. Belzer
is the President Elect of Hennepin Medical Society (County Medical Society),
which represents more than 4,000 physicians in the West Metropolitan
Twin Cities Area. Dr. Belzer serves on the Board of Directors for The
Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation, the National Public Health
and Hospital Institute, the National Association of Public Hospitals
Physician Leadership Advisory Committee, the Hennepin Medical Association,
the Metropolitan Visiting Nurse Agency, and the Hospice of the Twin
Cities, among many others. In addition to the above Board of Director
positions, he belongs to numerous other local, state, and national professional
organizations.
Dr. Belzer
is a practicing Medical Oncologist with subspecialty and specialty board
certification in Medical Oncology, Hematology, and Internal Medicine.
He is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians, a member of The
American Society of Clinical Oncology, The American Society of Hematology
and the Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society. He has practiced
medicine for the past 24 years at Hennepin County Medical Center and
has an active practice in the care of patients with cancer and blood
disorders. He lives in Hennepin County with his wife Ellyn Wolfenson
and their eight children.
