[caption id="attachment_7835" align="aligncenter" width="388"] Photo by Tavits Photography[/caption]
Robin K Blitz, MD, is a board-certified developmental-behavioral pediatrician, a Senior Medical Director for the Special Needs Initiative at UnitedHealthcare, and a clinical associate professor in the Department of Child Health, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix. She earned her medical degree from The Ohio State University and completed her pediatric residency at Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, DC, followed by a fellowship in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Blitz has almost 30 years of experience providing care for children with special health care needs and educating healthcare providers, residents, medical students, educators, and families, as well as creating and directing different patient-centered programs to serve children with ASD, ADHD, Down syndrome, Fragile X, and in foster/adopted homes. She also directed the Early Access to Care–Az, a learning collaborative focused on early diagnosis and medical home care to children with autism.
She is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics (SDBP). She was chosen as a Fellow of Zero-To-Three (1989) and an Arizona trainer on Early Brain and Child Development. Dr. Blitz has served on national, state, and local committees, including the AAP’s Council on Children with Disabilities - Autism Subcommittee, Make-A-Wish Medical Advisory Committee Workgroup for children with Intellectual and other Developmental Disabilities, Arizona’s Governor’s Advisory Committee on Autism, the Children’s Health Committee of First Things First, and the Arizona Telemedicine Council. She participated on committees with the AzAAP, the Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group and the Fragile X Clinical and Research Consortium. She has received multiple awards including the Betty Kerr Volunteer of the year, YWCA Woman of the year in Science and Research, Talk of the Town Customer Satisfaction Award, Mercy Maricopa RISE Award in Health and Innovation, and many local, state and national “Top Doctors” awards.
Dr. Blitz’s clinical interests include medical home care, shared decision making, supported decision making, transition to adult care, the special needs of foster and adopted children, prenatal alcohol and drug exposure, Down syndrome, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), ASD, Fragile X Syndrome, ADHD, learning disabilities, the care of premature infants, and children with multiple developmental disabilities.