Michael Weitzman

Weitzman served as chairman of the department of pediatrics at the New York University School of Medicine from 2005 until 2007. He currently is a professor at New York University with appointments in the departments of pediatrics, environmental medicine, and global public health. He is the 2017 American Pediatric Society's John Howland Award recipient, which is considered the highest honor in academic Pediatrics and is bestowed upon leaders whose significant contributions have advanced the lives of children and the profession of pediatrics through clinical care, scientific discovery, mentorship, and service.

For over 20 years, Weitzman has studied the neurotoxic effects of lead exposure on children. His research on preventing childhood lead exposure has influenced lead policy in several major ways, including: contributing to a paradigm shift from treating lead poisoned children to a primary and secondary prevention approach that involves home investigations and abatements and screening of children to trigger home investigations and repairs. He also has contributed to the current Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dust lead clearance levels post lead abatement, as well as contributing to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changing its definition of elevated blood lead levels and its lead screening and treatment guidelines. He served on the CDC Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention from 1997-2002 and the EPA Clean Air Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee Lead Review Panel from 2010-2013.

From 1979 to 1989 Weitzman was a professor pediatrics and public health at Boston University, working primarily at Boston City Hospital, where he would become the director of general pediatrics, director of child lead poisoning and treatment programs, and director of maternal and child health for the city of Boston.

Weitzman went to Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, New York and graduated in 1964 at the age of 16. Weitzman received his BA from Brooklyn College in 1968 before enrolling at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University where he received his MD degree in 1972 and would continue on to complete a residency in pediatrics in 1975. He received additional training in health administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Syracuse University, and then served as a health services research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Michael Weitzman (born January 16, 1948) is an American pediatrician specializing in public health and policy. He is known for his research focusing on the social and environmental determinants of child health. He has published over 150 articles in medical and scientific journals on the damaging effects of second-hand smoke, lead exposure, and countless other determinants of children's health and behavior. From 1999-2005 he served as the executive director of the Center for Child Health Research, a national research institute created by the American Academy of Pediatrics.