Dr. Thomas Klitzner, the Jack H. Skirball Professor of Pediatrics and former executive vice chair of the department of pediatrics at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, will receive the Calvin C.J. Sia Community Pediatrics Medical Home Leadership and Advocacy Award at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in San Francisco on October 22.
The award recognizes pediatricians who have advanced the medical home through practice and advocacy, especially for children with special health care needs. The award is named honor of Dr. Calvin C. J. Sia, a pediatric physician who is recognized for developing many innovative programs to improve the quality of medical care for children in the United States and Asia.
Klitzner, who has been involved in studying and improving systems of pediatric health care delivery for more than a decade, is the founder and director of the Pediatric Medical Home Program at UCLA. The program is designed to provide care to pediatric patients with special health care needs that is accessible, family-centered, coordinated, compassionate and delivered in a culturally effective manner. Klitzner also serves on the Advisory Committee to the National Center for Medical Home Implementation Program of the AAP as well as the California Department of Health Care Services CCS Advisory Group.
The AAP is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of the nation’s infants, children, adolescents and young adults.
