Certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, Dr. Huitink joined the Hillcrest Pediatric Clinic in 2008 after being honorably discharged from the United States Army. While serving, he completed an extended deployment to Iraq as an Army medical officer where he was responsible for the care of American soldiers, Iraqi civilians and enemy combatants. He was awarded the Army’s Bronze Star Medal (2007) for service and leadership in the hostile environments of Tal Afar and Ramadi, Iraq.
Bookending his time in Iraq, the American Academy of Pediatrics Fellow was assigned to a base in Heidelberg, Germany where he updated the standards in newborn care, systematically improved the management of children with asthma, and developed a multi-disciplinary, community-wide program targeting pediatric obesity. Additionally, Dr. Huitink provided medical care as the adolescent medicine expert in the local school-based teen clinics where he enjoyed the challenges and rewards of addressing the unique and often ignored medical needs of high school students.

In 2004, he was awarded the Army Achievement Medal for a unique case presentation involving an international adoptee at the military’s annual American Academy of Pediatrics Uniformed Services Pediatric Society meeting.