Susanne Martin Herz, MD, PhD

Dr. Susanne Martin Herz is Associate Professor and Transbay Medical Director in the Division of Developmental Medicine, Department Pediatrics at University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and Affiliate Faculty in the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences and the UCSF Program in Bioethics.

Dr. Martin Herz' scholarly focus is on the prevention/amelioration of neonatal brain injury and developmental disability, neurodevelopmental assessment across contexts, and the epidemiology of developmental disabilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). She is currently Principal Investigator on three studies in Zimbabwe, one evaluating neurodevelopmental assessment tools for earlier detection of disability/disability risk in infants with perinatal asphyxia with the goal to improve access to early intervention, one investigating early biomarkers of developmental needs, and the third a qualitative study of caregiver experience of raising a child with disability in this context. She is also Co-Investigator on a study of improved neonatal resuscitation impact on newborn survival, fresh stillbirth and rates of cerebral palsy and adverse neurodevelopmental outcome in urban Harare, Zimbabwe and a participant in the Zimbabwe Children's Rehabilitation Units cerebral palsy and developmental disability register program. Dr. Martin Herz is also Co-Principal Investigator on a study of the long-term health and neurodevelopment of infants born preterm or low birth weight in rural western Kenya, (nested within the recently completed Preterm Birth Initiative East Africa cohort) and Co-Investigator on neurodevelopmental follow-up of infants who received nutrition intervention in the first months of life in Kampala, Uganda. She has more than 20 years’ experience with early childhood development (ECD)/education (ECE) programs in Zimbabwe. Domestically, Dr. Martin Herz is Principal Investigator leading the only North American site of the 12-country, 16-site Global Scales for Early Development Norms & Standards study. She is also a Co-Investigator on an NIH funded national study investigating health and developmental outcomes of children exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in utero.

Dr. Martin Herz was a consultant on neurodevelopmental strategy and programs to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2016 to 2020 and a technical advisor on a American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)/USAID Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST) project in 2018-2019. She was a member of the World Health Organization's Nurturing Care Framework Implementation Working Group 2019-2023. She is currently a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) Global Early Childhood Development Project Advisory Committee (GECD-PAC), an AAP Content/Technical Resource Advisor to the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Developmental Screening Project, and an AAP Representative to the Early Childhood Development Curriculum Committee, Eastern, Central and Southern Africa College of Pediatrics and Child Health (ECSAPACH). She recently joined the World Health Organizations Technical Consultative Group on the Follow-up Care of the Small and Sick Newborn.

Dr. Martin Herz has extensive experience in health systems strengthening and quality improvement, including projects to reduce disparities in access to neurodevelopmental diagnostics and services. This includes her role as a technical advisor on the AAP/USAID ASSIST project “Strengthening Services in the Context of the Zika Epidemic in the English-speaking Caribbean.” In addition, she has significant clinical program development experience and lead creation of four novel models of clinical care that improved access and reduced wait time for evaluation and services. She was Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on five cycles of funding related to clinical program quality improvement and has participated in four Kaizen Process Improvement/Value Stream efforts. Dr. Martin Herz has been a member of county-wide systems change committees and an interagency coordinating council. She currently serves on the Models of Care subcommittee of the Practice Issues Committee for the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

Dr. Martin Herz is currently the Transbay Medical Director for the 3 clinical sites at which Division providers are active. She served as the Division's Associate Director of Clinical Services until 2020. Her clinical effort is currently in both the Intensive Care Nursery Follow-up Program at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco and its satellites, and at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, where she is active in the assessment and management of young children with developmental delay, concern for autism spectrum disorder or behavior concerns.

Dr. Martin Herz completed medical school at Stanford University School of Medicine and residency in Pediatrics at Seattle Children's Hospital and UCSF. She completed a fellowship in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics at Seattle Children's Hospital, a PhD in Psychology at the University of Washington and a Clinical Fellowship in Pediatric Bioethics at the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics in 2011. She joined the faculty at UCSF in 2014.