Deborah M. Spitalnik, PhD, Receives Joint Appointment to Rutgers RWJMS Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Deborah M. Spitalnik, PhD, Executive Director of The Boggs Center and Professor of Pediatrics, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, received a joint appointment as Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health in December. This appointment recognizes her ongoing efforts to promote the health care of individuals with developmental disabilities. Since 1989, Dr. Spitalnik has collaborated with the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health's Family Medicine at Monument Square to demonstrate the efficacy of health care coordination in increasing access to community-based primary care. This work originally began with a Health Services Initiative grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and is now expanding to examine the impact of Family Medicine physicians providing care to individuals with developmental disabilities during their residency training, develop longitudinal data on the health care needs of adults with developmental disabilities, and explore the development of care models for adults with IDD and co-occurring mental health and behavioral disorders.