ADVANCE Advisor Robert M. Blumm Recognized by the American Academy of Physician Assistants

(Amityville, N.Y.) ADVANCE for Physician Assistants editorial advisory board member Robert M. Blumm, RPA-C, MA, DFAAPA, has been recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA).

Mr. Blumm, a physician assistant in surgery from Amityville, N.Y., has been a PA for 38 years, the last 36 of which he has been employed by Long Island plastic surgeon Gerald A. Acker, MD. Mr. Blumm practices surgery at New Island Hospital in Bethpage, N.Y., at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, N.Y., and at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, N.Y. He has been on the ADVANCE for Physician Assistants editorial advisory board for more than 13 years.

The Distinguished Fellow Program of the American Academy of Physician Assistants recognizes AAPA members who have distinguished themselves among their colleagues and in their communities through their service. The AAPA is a national organization that represents PAs in all specialties.

Mr. Blumm earned the distinguished fellow recognition as a result of his outstanding contributions to patient care and to the PA profession throughout his career. Mr. Blumm served as a combat medic in the Republic of Vietnam from 1966 to 1967. He is among the pioneering PAs who utilized their combat medical training and education to provide health care to Americans returning stateside. 

“Bob Blumm not only has served his country in Vietnam and the citizens of New York in his clinical practice, but also has served PAs everywhere with his relentless passion, his deeply altruistic involvement in health care and the profession, and his wide vision for the future of PAs,” says Michael Gerchufsky, editor of ADVANCE for Physician Assistants. “And Bob Blumm is the PA who I’d want for my family and me, in the OR and beyond,” Gerchufsky says. “ADVANCE is honored to have Bob Blumm as an advisor.”

Mr. Blumm has served as president of the New York State Society of Physician Assistants and the American Association of Surgical Physician Assistants, and is current president of both the Association of Plastic Surgery Physician Assistants and the American College of Clinicians. He also has served as chairman of the Surgical Congress of the AAPA and as AAPA liaison to the American College of Surgeons.

Mr. Blumm has received the AASPA’s John W. Kirklin, MD, Award for Professional Excellence. In addition, he and Dr. Acker were the first recipients of the AAPA’s Physician-Physician Assistant Partnership PAragon Award.

Mr. Blumm is an adjunct instructor of surgery and emergency medicine at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., and speaks widely at medical conferences and symposia.

Mr. Blumm and his wife, Celia, have been married for 30 years. They have two children, Matthew and Kristin.

More than 68,000 PAs are in clinical practice in the United States, with more than 7,300 practicing in New York state.

ADVANCE for Physician Assistants is an independent medical trade journal for all U.S. physician assistants. It provides peer-reviewed clinical articles, continuing medical education credits, practical information about the PA’s role in the business and practice of medicine, and professional news and opinions for, by and about PAs. It is published by Merion Publications Inc. of King of Prussia, Pa. Founded in 1985, the company publishes 35 nursing, medical and allied health care newsmagazines, reaching more than 1.8 million subscribers nationwide.