Michael Wolk, MD, is currently in private practice in New York City, a Board-certified cardiovascular specialist since 1973. He graduated fromColgateUniversity as an All-American swimmer and received the President's Cup as the outstanding graduating senior. He received his medical degree fromColumbiaCollege of Physicians & Surgeons inNew York City, and completed his residency in internal medicine as chief resident atDownstateMedicalCenter inBrooklyn,N.Y. He pursued his cardiology training at bothTufts–NewEnglandMedicalCenter inBoston and atCornell University Medical Center,New York City.
For five years, he worked full-time at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in the Myocardial Infarction Research Center, supported by the National Institutes of Health. In 1974, Dr. Wolk launched his career as a solo practitioner. At Weill-Cornell, he serves as a clinical professor of medicine, president of their Independent Practice Association, and as the negotiator for its managed care contracts.
He is an attending physician at New York–Presbyterian Hospital and chairs the Fund for Medicine within the Department of Medicine. He also presides over the eponymous Michael Wolk Heart Foundation, which to date has raised more than $3.5 million, primarily from his patients, to provide research prizes and seed money for promising young cardiologists starting investigative careers. Recently, the foundation donated $1 million to establish a Clinical Scholar Endowment to enable exceptional junior faculty to excel in clinical care, teaching, and research.
Dr. Wolk is a member of the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Heart Association–Clinical Council, the Medical Society of the State of New York, and the Board of Directors of the New York Cardiac Center. He has served the AmericanCollegeof Cardiology as a Trustee since 1995, as a member of the Executive Committee since 1997, and as treasurer from 2001-02. He chaired the Budget, Finance & Investment Committee from 1996-2002, the Economics of Health Care Delivery Committee, and the Task Force for the 21st Century. He also was a member of the American Medical Accreditation Program Committee of the Task Force on Clinical Expert Consensus Documents, the AMA Relative Value Scale Update Committee (AMA RUC), and the Practicing Physician Advisory Council of the National Committee for Quality Assurance. He serves on the Task Force on Property and on the National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) Planning and Management Task Force, as well as on the Subcommittee for NCDR Publication and Development.
His research has appeared in the Journal of American Cardiology (JACC), the Journal of Medical Education, the American Journal of Cardiology, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Circulation, among others. His most recent article (in JACC) was a collaborative effort that focused on the National Cardiovascular Data Registry: “Percutaneous Coronary Interventions in Octogenarians in theAmericanCollegeof Cardiology–NCDR.”
A trustee emeritus of Colgate University, Dr. Wolk was inducted into its Athletic Hall of Honor in 1980 and received its Outstanding Alumni Award in June 2000. In May 2004, the university awarded him an honorary degree.
His wife, Abby, has been a clinical psychologist at the Horace Mann School for more than 30 years. They have two married children: Robert, an investment banker, and Sara, a PhD in psychology, and three grandchildren.
