Millennium Magazine_8th Ed

170 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine HEALTH AND WELLNESS at the University of Miami School of Medicine, a past president of the Florida Society of Rheumatology and charter president of the Florida Association for Infant Mental Health. He is active with the Miami-Dade United Way Center for Excellence in Education and Kiwanis on behalf of issues affecting young children. He is presently vice-chair of The Children’s Forum. Recognitions have included a 1971 Distin- guished Service Award from the Arthritis Foun- dation and a 1995 Letter of Recognition from the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. His two most recent awards have been for Child Advocacy by the Lawton Chil- es Foundation Board and as an inductee into the Virginia Commonwealth University Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Medical Society Chapter. In 2020, the Florida Kiwanis Foundation approached Dr. Blechman and his wife Rachel with the proposi- tion to create a fund that would focus on children frombirth to age 5, naming the fund in their honor. D r. Wil Blechman is a rheumatologist and educator who retired from private practice in 1994 after 33 years to enter into what he called his second career, an emphasis on promoting a greater understanding of the importance of early childhood and focusing private and public resources from birth to age 5 and beyond. He joined a local Kiwanis Club in 1961 and showed leadership that led to his election to the Kiwanis International Board of Trustees and to the office of President of Kiwanis International from 1990 to 1991. As president, he introduced amajor Kiwanis International program aimed at supporting optimal development of children frombefore birth to age 5 plus involving Kiwanis with UNICEF in a program to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders worldwide. Subsequent to his retirement from practice, he was appointed State Health Officer for Florida from1995 to 1996 and consultant to the Florida Departments of Health and Children and Families from 1996 to 1998. Holding a BS from Yale University and MD from the Medical College of Virginia, Dr. Blechman was clinical professor of medicine (rheumatology) WIL BLECHMAN, MD RHEUMATOLOGIST (RETIRED) Lawton & Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers & Babies Miami, FL