Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine

Guiding Principles of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine

1. We are committed to comprehensive health care and programming that is client‐directed, sex‐positive, and celebrates that young people have the agency to make health decisions for themselves and their children.
    
2. We believe in the importance of working toward sustainable improvements and growth that support equity and anti‐oppression; address health disparities caused by systems informed by white supremacy; and support the overall health and well‐being of young people, specifically Black, Indigenous and Youth of Color (BIYOC).
    
3. We acknowledge and commit to increasing awareness that oppression and white supremacy are historically and currently intentionally embedded into our medical and care systems and professions. We are dedicated to combating and deconstructing these long‐standing aspects of our collective existence.
    
4. We believe in the inherent resilience, autonomy, and capacity of young people to define and achieve their goals and navigate life challenges ranging from individual stressors, such as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), to societal stressors/challenges that commonly include systemic oppression.
    
5. We are committed to creating and maintaining trauma‐informed safer spaces for young people, staff, trainees, and faculty, where they can express who they are without fear of bias and discrimination. Trauma‐informed care specifically includes engagement with young people with the intention of nurturing healing, recognizing that anti‐blackness in our space is a barrier to necessary healing, and working toward creating and maintaining safe spaces for all Black young people, staff, trainees, and faculty.
    
6. We affirm queer and trans identities and the intersectionality of youth identities. We foster a queer‐affirming network and act with the intention of freeing ourselves from hetero‐ and cis‐normative thinking.
    
7. We value reflective learning and cultural humility as core strategies for personal and professional growth and un‐learning the way we have been complicit and explicit in maintaining white supremacy and intersecting oppressions, including but not limited to cisheteronormativity, adultism, and elitism.
    
8. We acknowledge that systemic racial oppression, white supremacy, and white privilege play a prominent role in society. We acknowledge that if we are not Black, we are socialized to navigate the world with anti‐blackness and white supremacist attitudes.
    
9. We commit to engage in both restorative justice and social justice approaches to address missteps, learn from mistakes, be accountable, and focus on truth and transparency.
    
10. We value the contributions of lived experience and the voices of historically and currently marginalized communities and use these experiences to inform, direct, and create collaborative and culturally congruent research, programming, training, and services.
     
11. We commit to recruiting, hiring, and retaining Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) as staff and faculty, specifically Black identified staff and faculty. We view diversity in cultural identities as an area of professional expertise. We commit to professional development of our BIPOC colleagues, upward mobility, and representation in leadership positions.
     
12. We practice cultural humility and seek to develop respectful partnerships with youth and their communities and to explore similarities and differences between the community and funders’ priorities, goals, and capacities. We are committed to taking action to align with the values of the communities we serve.
     
13. We are dedicated to creating and sustaining intentional relationships with youth, families, community members and leaders, other professionals, providers, and national advocates to better address health inequities.
     
14. We strive to cultivate an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism and adultism. We believe that all people, regardless of age, show up with the capacity to lead and learn.

The Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine (DAYAM) has a long history of sponsoring training for local professionals on a variety of topics pertinent to adolescent and young adult health, established nationally recognized training programs and trains the next generation of leaders in adolescent and young adult health. The ACGME-accredited Adolescent Medicine Fellowship Program for physicians, one of only three in California, and APA-accredited pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral psychology fellowship program provide emerging professionals with the knowledge and skills they need to provide the quality care young people deserve. The DAYAM also provides training for graduate students in the fields of social work and public health.

The Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine provides capacity building assistance on a variety of adolescent health issues to youth-serving professionals and institutions requesting trainings and tools to better serve and support young people and to create structural changes in their communities. The DAYAM also regularly produces webinars and resources on a variety of adolescent and young adult health issues.

The Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Program, funded by the federal Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, provides interdisciplinary leadership training in adolescent health for five core disciplines including medicine, nursing, nutrition, psychology, and social work. The pre- and postdoctoral training prepares health professionals for leadership roles in public health practice and clinical care, research, training, and advocacy with the goal of improving family- and youth-centered, community-based care for adolescents and enhancing the capacity of programs around the country to improve young people's health. This program is sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).

Long term trainees complete a minimum of 300 hours of training over the course of the academic year. The program is also recruiting advanced learners of mid-career short-term (<40 hours) and medium-term (40 to 299 hours) trainees each year. Stipends are only available to long term trainees. The training year runs from September through May and the didactic sessions and interdisciplinary practice clinics are held each Monday. In addition, all long-term trainees are required to attend 4 Leadership Trainings and will complete a scholarly project to advance the field of adolescent and young adult health and contribute to the translation of research into practice and policy.

The curriculum consists of nine modules that cover the following areas:

• Overview of MCH System of Care/Life course Development Framework; Introduction to the DAYAM and to Interdisciplinary Studies
• Biopsychosocial model of Adolescent and Young Adult health and Development
• Social Determinants of Health and Cultural Diversity
• Trauma Informed Care/Interpersonal Violence/Vulnerable Populations
• Sexual Health and Gender Issues
• Public Systems and Vulnerable Youth
• Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse
• Nutritional Disorders
• Chronic Illness, Special health Care Needs, and Transition to Adult Services

You can learn more about the program by downloading the flyer.

We encourage interested participants to submit their application early, since we will be reviewing submissions as they come in. Priority consideration will be given to applications submitted by Wednesday, June 1, 2022. However, the LEAH Program will accept applications on a rolling basis through Friday, July 15, 2022.

Download the application here (PDF)

Questions? Email us at LEAH@chla.usc.edu

Mailing Address:

The CHLA LEAH Program
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
4650 Sunset Blvd., MS #2
Los Angeles, CA 90027 

The Research Program at the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine (DAYAM) conducts research addressing a wide area of issues relevant to the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults. Through research, the DAYAM seeks to improve our understanding of the risk factors that may threaten young people’s health and future as well as the protective factors that help young people deal more effectively with adversity.