Susan Blank

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Susan Blank
Colleagues & benefactors:
Douglas Diekema
Andrew Freedman
Member of:
AAP Circumcision Task Force 2012
Associates with:
American Academy of Pediatrics

Susan Blank, MD, MPH, was the Chairwoman of the AAP Circumcision Task Force 2012. The Task force released a new policy statement on circumcision on 27 August 2012.

She has worked at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene since 1992. She is affiliated with the CDC and works at the DOHMH as an assignee from the Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention at the CDC. Currently she is the Director and Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of STD Control.[1] She appears to be convinced of the medical advantages of circumcision.

"There's no argument that the trials that have been done are really compelling," says Susan Blank, chairwoman of the academy's task force on neonatal circumcision. "That is just one piece in the discussion of circumcision." The academy's panel also includes experts on urinary-tract infections, ethics and health-care finance among others, she says.(119) (Wall Street Journal)[2]
This statement really is not neutral. There is clear evidence that supports the health benefits of male circumcision. (Community Radio for Northern Colorado)[3]

Blank was an Assistant Commissioner at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene at the time that a mohel was believed to have infected three infants with herpes after performing mouth suction on their penis wounds.[4] One of those infants died and another was believed to have brain damage. Thomas R. Frieden also worked at DOHMH at the time. It appears that Blank helped do research for the letter that Frieden later published as "An Open Letter to the Jewish Community", in response to these events.[5]

Susan Blank may have confused her ethnic views on circumcision with medical science. Her circumcision policy of 2012 received scathing critical comment.[6] The statement failed to recognize that young boys are human persons with human rights independent of their parents. It expired in 2017 and has not been reaffirmed by the AAP.

Susan Blank was the subject of a protest at her Queens, New York City home by the intactivist group Intaction for her involvement with the AAP 2012 Circumcision Committee.[7]

See also

References

  1. REFweb Susan Blank, MD, MPH. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  2. REFweb (26 March 2009). Circumcision Decreases Risk of Contracting STDs, Study Says, Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  3. REFweb (31 August 2012). Pediatricians Decide Boys Are Better Off Circumcised Than Not, Community Radio for Northern Colorado. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  4. REFweb (February 2005). New York Officials Bar Rabbi from Circumcision Ritual. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  5. REFdocument Blank, Susan / Julia Schillinger: 2005 Health Alert #46: Neonatal herpes infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 following circumcision with oral suctioning (metzitzah b’peh) (archive URL), The City of New York. (13 December 2005). Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  6. REFjournal Frisch, Morten, et al. Cultural Bias in the AAP’s 2012 Technical Report and Policy Statement on Male Circumcision. Pediatrics. 1 April 2013; 131(4) PMID. DOI. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  7. https://qns.com/story/2013/11/24/queens-doctor-targeted-over-circumcisions/