2017 Recent Alumni Achievement Award Recipient
Dr. Harry Cho '02
Dr. Hyung (Harry) Cho ’02 earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Biology, Health and Society from the College of Human Ecology. During his studies, he served as a mentor for minority students of color, a resident advisor, and a research assistant at the Cornell Infant Studies Lab. Outside of his studies, he competed in taekwondo with Cornell’s club team and volunteered his time as an assistant instructor in the martial art.
Post-graduation, he undertook medical volunteer work in Peru and South Africa, and was a service leader with City Year Americorps where he worked with inner city Philadelphia youth and developed service-learning and after-school programs. He obtained his Doctor of Medicine from Temple University in 2008 and completed his residency in internal medicine at Yale University’s School of Medicine in 2011.
Harry is currently the Director of Quality, Safety, and Value for Hospital Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He is a hospitalist, a physician specialized in the care of hospitalized patients in internal medicine, and an assistant professor, focusing his research on the relationship of overuse to patient harm and the reduction of unnecessary medical testing and treatment. His work bridges education with systems improvement and outcomes including the award-winning OCCAM’s Conference, a systems-based morbidity & mortality meeting aimed at understanding and preventing overuse. He also created the nationally recognized Student High Value Care Initiative, which successfully reduces overuse in hospital settings, fostering student-led ideas with faculty mentorship and institutional support.
A Senior Fellow at the Lown Institute, a nonprofit healthcare think tank, he co-leads the national RightCare Rounds educator program with chief residents, implemented in over 60 institutions across the country. He is also the Chair of the Right Care Alliance Hospital Medicine Council, a Clinical Quality Fellow for Greater New York Hospital Association, and a member of the Hospital Quality and Safety Committee for Society of Hospital Medicine.
Within his profession, Harry has lectured at national conferences including the Society of Hospital Medicine, Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, and American College of Physicians. He has received over 30 awards and recognition in value, quality and education. These included the Choosing Wisely Award from Society of Hospital Medicine, the Teaching Value and Choosing Wisely Award from Costs of Care and ABIM Foundation, the Comcast NBC Universal Leadership Award, and the Top Hospitalist honor from ACP Hospitalist magazine.