Mid-Atlantic Regional Chapter
Officers
President: Kenisha Campbell, MD, MPH
Treasurer: Robin R. Miller, MD
Secretary: Shelby Davies, MD
History and Mission
In 1974, Dr. Clyde Rapp founded the Delaware Valley Society for Adolescent Health in recognition of the need for a local society dedicated to the care of adolescents. Over the years, the society evolved and in 1994, was “reactivated” into its current incarnation: The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. This regional chapter serves Delaware, Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Southern New Jersey. Our 225 active members come from a wide variety of medical and non-medical disciplines. Recruiting and maintaining an interdisciplinary membership is considered a priority.
Our goals and objectives include:
- To foster communication among those concerned with Adolescent Health.
- To develop and promulgate standards and recommendations for adolescent health care.
- To develop educational programs.
- To improve the quality of and access to health care for adolescents.
- To identify, investigate, and list opportunities for careers in adolescent health.
Upcoming chapter activities:
Mid-Atlantic Regional SAHM will hold its annual business meeting in July 2020. The meeting, which was initially intended to be held at the annual SAHM meeting in March 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic, will be held virtually. We will provide space for both the annual business meeting and annual networking event. We look forward to hearing from our colleagues and chapter members on how to continue on our progress, improve our chapter and better care for adolescents and young adults in our region.
Mid-Atlantic Regional SAHM is also planning several upcoming virtual events over the next several months to remain engaged with our community in a safe and responsible way. We plan to host a virtual 5K run in August 2020 to support a local youth-serving organization within our region. We also plan to host a virtual journal club in October 2020 that will review a recent and timely article in hopes of fostering a lively discussion on the future of adolescent health.
In January 2021, Mid-Atlantic Regional SAHM will partner with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Leadership and Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) fellowship program and Penn State Hershey to host the fourth annual Adolescent and Young Adult Annual Conference. The conference will be hosted virtually and will be a robust multidisciplinary conference featuring speakers from several disciplines.
Highlights of recent chapter activities include:
Mid-Atlantic Regional SAHM has partnered with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Leadership and Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) fellowship program and Penn State Hershey to host three Adolescent and Young Adult Annual Conferences. All three previous conferences were multidisciplinary and featured speakers from several disciplines, including Mid-Atlantic Regional SAHM members. Continuing education credits were offered to all disciplines a well. Each year these educational conferences have received very favorable evaluations from the greater than 60 participants. Provided below is a list of the conference titles and keynote speakers:
Third Annual Adolescent and Young Adult Health Conference, Stronger Together: Promoting Resilience and Healthy Youth Development. Hosted at Penn State Hershey, October 2019.
Keynote Address: Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg, Professor of Pediatrics in the Craig-Dalsimer Division of Adolescent Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, “Building on the Strengths of ALL Young People: A Resilience-Based, Trauma-Sensitive Strategy”
Second Annual Adolescent and Young Adult Health Conference, LEAH: Interdisciplinary Collaboration Works. Hosted at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, November 2018.
Keynote Address: Rhonda Hendrickson, Vice President of Programs, YWCA Greater Harrisburg, “Human Trafficking in the US”
First Annual Adolescent and Young Adult Health Conference. Hosted at Penn State Hershey, September 2017.
Keynote Address: Dr. Rachel Levine, Secretary of Health and Physician General, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, “The Opioid Epidemic in the US”
Highlights of recent chapter member’s awards and presentations include:
Dr. Kenisha Campbell, Mid-Atlantic Regional SAHM President, received a Diversity Endowment Award at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to develop a skills-based curriculum aimed at working towards an environment that respects all diversity
Dr. Shelby Davies, Mid-Atlantic Regional SAHM Secretary, received a grant from the University of Pennsylvania Center for Experimental Ethnography for her work around unmet menstrual hygiene needs.
Dr. Sheryl Ryan, Penn State Health, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, received numerous large education grants for her work around adolescent substance use.
Dr. Jamal Essayli, Penn State Health, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, received a grant from the National Institutes of Health for his research on adolescent eating disorders.
The Gender Resources Clinic at Penn State Health, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center now serves over 120 patients in central Pennsylvania despite being open less than one year!
Listserve
A listserve was created for our chapter at SAHM Headquarters. Thus far, the listserve has been used mainly to post chapter events, however, questions and discussions on adolescent topics would be very welcome. To post a message on the listserve, log into your SAHM membership account and select the Mid-Atlantic regional Chapter listserve under ‘Listserves.’ Then send an email to MidAtlanticRegionalSAHM@gmail.com Mid-Atlantic Regional Chapter membership information please contact: Althea Akers at the above email address.
Chapter members do not need to be members of the national organization. Annual chapter dues are $20 for basic membership; $10 for fellows, trainees and residents and waived for students.
Join this chapter — membership in SAHM is not required to join a chapter, but you are invited to join.
