Division of Adolescent Medicine

Research is a critical component of the Craig-Dalsimer Division of Adolescent Medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, which explores a wide range of adolescent health issues and is one of the largest adolescent medicine practices in the nation and the only dedicated adolescent inpatient service in the tri-state region. Through a dynamic and collaborative program that employs both quantitative and qualitative techniques, investigators in the Division generate new knowledge on the physical and mental health and well-being of adolescents through clinical, population-based, translational, community-based, and medical education-based research in addition to clinical quality improvement initiatives.

The Division of Adolescent Medicine has several unique and innovative programs that showcase the strength of its clinician-investigators. Its Adolescent Initiative program, which treats adolescents and young adults with behaviorally acquired HIV, has existed for more than 30 years and is a unit of the NIH-funded Adolescent Medicine Trials Network.

The new Center for Parent & Teen Communication, launched in 2017, is dedicated to the dissemination of high-yield strategies to build healthy, resilient adolescents and to develop a body of research aimed at enhancing the role providers and parents have in assuring effective parent-teen communication and adolescent well being.

In addition, the Division of Adolescent Medicine includes the nationally respected Eating Disorder Assessment and Treatment Program, one of the largest of its kind in the country, with cutting-edge research integrated into each aspect of assessment, treatment, and follow-up. The Division also features the Gender and Sexuality Development Clinic, one of the largest of its kind that includes conducting innovative research to inform the clinical care of gender non-conforming youth.

Additional research programs in the Division focus on adolescent reproductive health, parent-teen communication about sexual health and alcohol use, and youth involvement in medical decision making (e.g., research enrollment decisions; chronic illness management and treatment decision making) and its impact on health behaviors and outcomes.