Adolescent Medicine

The Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston provides state-of-the-art, comprehensive primary care and specialty care to patients, ages 10 to 23 years old.

We participate in education, research, and community service and we are the oldest adolescent clinic in the United States, founded in 1951.

Adolescent Specific Care

Our team offers complete care for a wide variety of congenital and acquired disorders and adolescent and teen issues including:

Services

A full range of associated services is offered:

• The Adolescent/Young Adult Medical Practice provides expert evaluation and medical treatment to more than 15,000 adolescents and young adult patients, ages 10-23, with common and complex medical problems.
• The Bone Health Program evaluates children and adolescents who have, or are at risk for, low bone density.
• The Boston HAPPENS Program provides clinical care to HIV positive and at-risk youth and offers HIV counseling and testing onsite.
• The Center for Young Women's Health offers health information to adolescent girls and their parents onsite and through the youngwomenshealth.org website.
• The Eating Disorders Program provides comprehensive medical and psychological evaluation and treatment to patients with anorexia nervosa, bulimia and related eating disorders such as binge eating and vomiting, and is the largest eating disorders program in New England.
• The PREP Clinic is a weight and lifestyle management program that is part of the Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine clinic at Children’s Hospital Boston. The PREP approach is personalized and includes the specialties of medicine, nutrition, and behavioral health.
• The Reproductive Endocrine Practice provides diagnostic assessment and management of menstrual problems, polycystic ovary syndrome, and low bone density, as well as educational materials and monthly chats.
• The Adolescent Substance Abuse Program (ASAP) is committed to providing exceptional care to adolescents who use substances and their families.

Our Team

We are one of the largest adolescent/young adult medical practices in the nation with a diverse clinical team and staff that includes 40 health profiessionals - physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, nutritionists, HIV counselors and mental health clinicians.

Teaching/Training

Children's is the primary pediatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School (HMS) where our physicians hold faculty appointments. We direct and/or co-direct HMS postgraduate courses in adolescent medicine and pediatric and adolescent gynecology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The Division has one of the seven federal training grants in the United States for adolescent health. We have also established the Boston Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Program, funded by the Maternal Child and Health Bureau, where we train physicians (from Pediatrics, Internal Medicine and Family Medicine), nurses, psychologists, social workers and nutritionists in adolescent health.

Research

The Division has significantly expanded its research addressing a multitude of adolescent health issues.