2022 Pioneer Award

Marilyn J. Bull, MD, FAAP

Indianapolis, Indiana
Indiana University School of Medicine

For more than 45 years, Dr. Bull has worked to improve the health and safety of children through her car passenger safety innovations for children with special health care needs as well as for children who are transported in ambulances. Marilyn J. Bull, MD, FAAP is the Morris Green Professor of Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, in the Division of Developmental Pediatrics. Dr. Bull served as the Director of the Section of Developmental Pediatrics at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health in the past. She is currently on faculty as a Neurodevelopmental Physician in the Division of Developmental Pediatrics at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health. Her administrative appointments include Director of the Down Syndrome Program and Director of the Feeding Team at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health, and she serves as Co-Medical Director of the Automotive Safety Program at Indiana University School of Medicine where her research interests include "safe transportation of children with special health care needs" and "ambulance transportation safety."

Dr. Bull is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School. She did her pediatric residency at Children's Memorial Hospital of Chicago. She completed a fellowship in Birth Defects and Genetic Counseling at Boston Floating Hospital. Dr. Bull is Board Certified in Pediatrics and is also Board Certified in Clinical Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities.

Dr. Bull is a leader in car passenger safety and in injury prevention for children who require ambulance transfer. As an active member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), she has served as Chair of the Committee on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention, President of the Indiana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Chair of District V, and Member of the Board of Directors. Additionally, she is the AAP Representative for the National Child Passenger Safety Board and is the AAP Liaison to the Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group (DSMIG) for which she is also on the Board of Directors. Her other professional engagements include being on the Safe Transport of Children Ad Hoc Committee for the National Association of State EMS Officials, being on the Grow Up Safe Advisory Board for the Child Injury Prevention Alliance, and she has recently been voted President Elect for the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM) for which she also serves on the Board of Directors.

Dr. Bull is a frequent participant in Continuing Medical Education programs for the AAP, AAAM, American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM), Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC), and medical centers across the country. In addition to being a national and international presenter on several topics including Down Syndrome and Child Passenger Safety (especially on the topic of safe transportation of children with disabilities), Dr. Bull is also an author and reviewer for several medical publications and peer-reviewed journals including Pediatrics, the Official Journal of the AAP; New England Journal of Medicine; American Journal of Medical Genetics; Archives of Child & Adolescent Medicine; Pediatric Surgery; Journal of Pediatrics; and Injury Prevention among others. Her dedication to disseminating safe transport of children with special health care needs and children requiring ambulances is paramount to the promotion of these practices both nationally and internationally.

Marilyn Bull, MD is a recipient of the Donald F. Huelke Lifetime Member Award (through AAAM). In 2015, Dr. Bull was selected as a United States Department of Transportation and White House "Transportation Champion of Change" Honoree. She received the "C. Everett Koop Medal of Distinction" at the 2017 Safe Kids Worldwide PREVCON, and, most recently, the Manufacturers Alliance Child Passenger Safety (MACPS) announced Dr. Marilyn Bull as an Inductee into their CPS Hall of Fame Class of 2018. We are honored to award Dr. Bull the Pioneer Award from the Injury Free Coalition for Kids.