Paula M. Elbirt, MD is a board certified pediatrician, trained in Philadelphia and New York City, who has spent the majority of her career in private practice and in medical school teaching positions. In 1989 a public appearance opportunity on an NBC national morning show resulted in her discovery of a new love - public education. From that point, Elbirt expanded her activities to include work in child advocacy through education, appearing regularly on talk shows, news reports, and in magazine articles, wherever she could reach a larger audience, in the hopes of spreading important pediatric advice to those who needed it most - parents. She is the author of Dr. Paula's Good Nutrition Guide for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers: Answers to Parent's Most Common Questions Plus Help for Coping with Fussy Eaters as well as Dr. Paula's House Calls to Your Newborn. Recently her activities have led to helping to create a steering committee on the issues of media and children for the American Academy of Pediatrics and will assist in the formation of a Media Resources Team in New York City (to match the same in Hollywood) for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
In 1996, Elbirt was introduced to the internet and began to answer parent's questions, first on iVillage's Parentsoup and later on WebMD and Parents.com as well as other parenting sites. Eventually she launched her own website, drpaula.com, which for four years gave free pediatric advice to thousands of parents who visited and employed many other physicians, pediatricians as well as OB/GYN doctors and lactation specialists and child psychologists. Elbirt has now created a new pediatric advice website, www.myfavoritepediatrician.com, in the hopes of helping parents learn more and deal better with the vital job of raising children.