Robert Blum is director of the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, and director of the WHO Collaborating Center in Adolescent Health, both at the University of Minnesota. He was co-investigator for the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health (Add Health), a study of adolescents in grades 7 through 12, designed to measure the social settings of adolescent lives, the ways in which adolescents connect to their social world and the influence of these social settings and connections on health.

Dr. Blum was the 1998 American Public Health Association's Needleman Award recipient for "scientific research and courageous advocacy for children." He is a past president of the Society for Adolescent Medicine and currently serves as chair of the Alan Guttmacher Institute Board of Directors and on the Scientific Panel of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Dr. Blum's research interests include adolescent sexuality, chronic illness and international adolescent health care issues. He has edited two books and has written over 180 journal articles and numerous special reports.