Robert W. Block was inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame in 2013
As president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in 2011-2012, Dr. Robert W. Block dedicated his term to the children, focusing on health equity, health education and literacy, immunizations and early brain and child development.
Dr. Block is widely lauded for his work with abused children. He believes, “To succeed as a nation, we must invest in early childhood health, mental health, education, nutrition, and social stability. All adults once were children. Who we are as adults is, in many ways, affected by our childhood experiences, environments, and relationships.”
He earned a medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and then completed a pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He has been named one of the “Best Doctors in America” and he was the first chair of the AAP’s sub-board on Child Abuse Pediatrics. Dr. Block has been the board chair and past president of the Academy on Violence and Abuse (AVA), where he focused on increasing education for health care professionals and academic research on the health effects of violence and abuse.
He is a past chair of the Department of Pediatrics at The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and has been a member of the OU College of Medicine faculty since 1975.
The author of numerous papers and a textbook, Dr. Block has delivered over 2,000 public presentations on his work.
Robert and wife Sharon, a retired science teacher and registered nurse, have two daughters, Erika and Andrea, and two grandchildren.