Deborah Spitalnik is the Executive Director of the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on  Developmental Disabilities, a University Center of Excellence at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Department of Pediatrics in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where she is also a Professor of Pediatrics.
Dr. Spitalnik holds degrees from Brandeis, Harvard and Temple Universities. She was also a Maternal and Child Fellow on Child Clinical Psychology at
St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.
For over 25 years her work has focused on the intersection of individuals and public policy. She is a co-author of both the 9th (1992) and 10th (2002) edition of the AAMR terminology and classification manual. Dr. Spitalnik was a principal investigator of an innovative Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project demonstrating the feasibility of integrating adults with chronic disabilities into managed health care using a care coordination model. She is the developer of The Managed Health Care Curriculum: Supporting People with Developmental Disabilities to Utilize Managed Health Care, a federal Project of National Significance and also educational materials for SSI beneficiaries moving into Medicaid managed care. Dr. Spitalnik educates a wide range of constituencies, including people with disabilities and their families, medical students and resident physicians, direct support workers and case managers and other professionals. She also provides consultation and technical assistance to state agencies, service providers and families.
Immediate past Chair of the President's Committee on Mental Retardation and a past President of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, Dr. Spitalnik serves on numerous committees and boards, including the New Jersey Developmental Disabilities Council, The Governor's Council for the Prevention of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, and the Governor's Advisory Council on Traumatic Brain Injury.
Dr. Spitalnik has been recognized by the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) Dybwad Humanitarian Award, the United Cerebral Palsy of New Jersey Elizabeth M. Boggs Citizenship Award, the Brandeis University Student Alumni Association Pride Award, The Camphill Elizabeth M. Boggs Leadership Award, and the Community Health Law Project Ann Klein Advocacy Award.
Work Address:
The Boggs Center
P.O. Box 2688
New Brunswick, NJ 08903-2688
Phone: 732-235-9326
FAX: 732-235-9330
Email: deborah.spitalnik@umdnj.edu |
