SAHM Annual Meeting: Virtual Workshops

The SAHM Program Committee is excited to announce a limited series of virtual Annual Meeting Workshops, launching this September as a lead-up to the opening of registration for the SAHM 2026 Annual Meeting in November.

These sessions are free to attend and open to all SAHM members and non-member registered attendees of the 2025 Annual Meeting (AM25).

Each session will be recorded and made available shortly after it is held. CME/CE credits will not be offered for these sessions.

Click on each of the session titles below for more details including how to register. 

Advancing Adolescent-Inclusive Sexual and Reproductive Health Research: Overcoming Challenges and Leveraging Opportunities

Monday September 15, 2025 – (9-10 a.m. PT); (10-11 a.m. MT); (11 a.m.-12 p.m. CT); (12-1 p.m. ET) 
REGISTER HERE

Speakers: Bianca A. Allison, MD, MPH, University of North Carolina School of Medicine; Errol L. Fields, MD, PhD, MPH, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; Andrea Hoopes, MD, MPH, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute; An Pham, MD, MPH, Virginia Commonwealth University; Tracey Wilkinson, MD, MPH, Indiana University School of Medicine; Sarah Wood, MD, MPH, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Session Description: Despite increasing numbers of adolescent health professionals trained to lead adolescent-centered research, adolescents—particularly minors under 18—remain systematically underrepresented in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) research. Barriers such as limited mentorship, institutional resistance, recruitment and retention challenges, and the need for adolescent-specific measures continue to hinder progress. This one-hour webinar will equip attendees with practical strategies and resources to overcome these obstacles and promote inclusive, high-quality adolescent SRH research. This is particularly timely in light of ongoing legal shifts affecting adolescent access to abortion and contraception. The session will cover:

    1. Why Adolescent SRH Research Matters: An overview of the critical role adolescent-focused research plays in advancing health equity.
    2. Navigating Research Barriers: A practical exploration of common challenges (e.g., developmental considerations, IRB resistance, legal/ethical constraints), using real-world examples from presenters’ own research.
    3. Resources and Strategies for Success: A guide to tools, networks, and methods (e.g., youth participatory research, human-centered design) that support effective adolescent engagement in research.

We will conclude with a Q&A session where attendees can pose questions to our panel of experienced researchers.

Learning Objectives

    1. Identify strategies to support colleagues and mentees in overcoming common challenges in adolescent SRH research.
    2. Explain the significance of including adolescents in a broad spectrum of SRH research.
    3. Leave with concrete ideas and resources to strengthen current or future adolescent-centered SRH research projects.

Adolescents and Young Adults with Severe and Enduring Eating Disorders: Roads Other Than Recovery?

Friday, September 19, 2025 – (10:30 a.m. -12:00 p.m. PT); (11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. MT); (12:30-2 p.m. CT); (1:30-3 p.m. ET)
REGISTER HERE

Speakers: Maya Michelle Kumar, MD, University of California San Diego / Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego; Nicole Cifra, MD, MPH, MHPEd, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Lauren Hartman, MD, Aspen Grove Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine; Melissa Hopper, PsyD, CEDS, University of Kansas School of Medicine; Tamara Maginot, PhD, University of California San Diego / Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego; Laura Kester Prakash, MD, MPH, University of California Davis

Session Description: Eating disorders are the most common chronic illness affecting adolescents; while the prognosis is favorable for most affected youth, many suffer for years from relapsing and remitting disease and many succumb to their illness, with eating disorders having one of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric condition. Young adults with severe and enduring eating disorders (SEEDs) might question whether treatment is futile and ask questions about alternatives to full recovery, including comfort care. In this workshop, a multidisciplinary team of presenters including physicians and psychologists with backgrounds in bioethics, will lead a reflective discussion prompting participants to explore the following about patients with SEEDs:

    • The definition of SEEDs and what is known from the literature about their prognosis, including specific factors that may affect prognosis positively and negatively.
    • Distinguishing between treatment failure, treatment refusal, and lack of adequate treatment (recognizing that there is severe inequity in access to appropriate eating disorder care due to socioeconomic, geographic, caregiver-related, cultural, and/or language barriers)
    • Treatment goals aside from complete recovery, including harm reduction and palliative care.
    • If and when hospice care should ever be considered;
      – The role of parents/caregivers in determining treatment goals for severely ill patients;
      – How ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for autonomy, and justice can be used to support decision-making; and
      – How providers can provide ethically sound care while being consistent with institutional policies and addressing risk management concerns.

The impetus for this workshop was a SAHM Eating Disorder SIG session on this topic from the 2023 annual conference, which drew a huge multidisciplinary audience and generated important and thought-providing group discussion. This workshop takes the next step forward in exploring this difficult but critical subject, and is a must-attend for clinicians and advocates of all disciplines who work with young people with eating disorders. Presenters will review available resources for information-sharing, ethical consultation, and debriefing. Participants will have a safe space to work through their moral distress and leave the workshop feeling better equipped to think through complex cases, knowing that they are prioritizing their patients’ best interests.

Learning Objectives:

    1. Describe relevant prognostic factors and expected outcomes for young people with severe and enduring eating disorders (SEEDs), including whether they have had equitable access to evidence-based treatment.
    2. Reflect upon when treatment goals other than full recovery, including harm reduction and palliative care, might be supportable for youth with SEEDs.
    3. Apply principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for autonomy, and justice to develop ethically sound treatment goals for youth with SEEDs.

Helping without Harming: How to Avoid Stigmatizing AYA or Contributing to Disordered Eating with Weight Loss Medication Use

Wednesday, September 24, 2025 – (8-9 a.m. PT); (9-10 a.m. MT); (10-11 a.m. CT); (11 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET)
REGISTER HERE 

Speakers: Sarah Pitts, MD, Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School; Grace Jhe, PhD, Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School; Katrina Schroeder Smith, RD, LDN, Boston Children’s Hospital

Session Description: Weight loss medication, weight stigma, and eating disorders are critical and timely adolescent/young adult (AYA) health topics. The use of weight loss medication in conjunction with dietary and behavior change could help reduce or prevent comorbid diagnoses associated with higher weight including, but not limited to, hyperlipidemia, sleep apnea, PCOS, and diabetes. However, discussing weight as a concern has been shown to contribute to weight stigma and lead to disordered eating. Weight stigma is rampant in society and likely contributes to a cycle of individual stress, unhealthy weight management behaviors, depression, and further weight gain. Eating disorders are also prevalent, and disordered eating behaviors are commonly seen in AYA living in larger bodies. This workshop will address the challenge of discussing and prescribing weight loss medication while mitigating weight stigma and eating disorder pathology. We will also address the research regarding GLP-1 agonist use in individuals with binge eating disorders. Didactics will address the evidence base regarding societal weight stigma and its impact on AYA health, AYA eating disorder risk and recommended screening, and the use of weight loss medication in AYA. With interactive case-based examples, the interdisciplinary presenters from medicine, nutrition, and psychology will address 1) clinical scenarios when weight loss medication would be beneficial or could cause harm; 2) the language to use when prescribing weight loss medication to mitigate weight stigma and eating disorder pathology; 3) use of depression, anxiety, weight stigma, and eating disorder screeners to evaluate risk before and during the use of weight loss medication; 4) behavioral modification and dietary strategies for AYA treated with weight loss medication.

Learning Objectives:

    1. To consider the language used when addressing weight and weight loss so as not to contribute to weight stigma and eating disorder behaviors.
    2. To incorporate behavioral modification and dietary recommendations in the care of AYA treated with weight loss medication.
    3. To screen for and to monitor for eating disorder behaviors in AYA seeking and/or treated with weight loss medication.

Pain Management for IUD Placement: Examine Evidence, Honor Autonomy, Reset Practices

Friday, October 3, 2025 – (9-10 a.m. PT); (10-11 a.m. MT); (11 a.m.-12 p.m. CT); (12-1 p.m. ET)
REGISTER HERE 

Speakers: Ashley M. Ebersole, MD, MS, FAAP, Nationwide Children’s Hospital/The Ohio State University; Antoinette Nguyen, MD, MPH, FACOG, Emory University; Cambray Smith, UNC Chapel Hill

Session Description: This panel brings together multidisciplinary experts to discuss updated CDC contraceptive guidelines from the U.S. Selected Practice Recommendations for Contraceptive Use, 2024 (U.S. SPR) on use of medications for IUD placement and the evidence for these recommendations as well as issues around patient concerns related to online conversations about IUD placement/use, and the importance in this context of reinforcing autonomy, equity, and person-centered care for pain management with intrauterine device (IUD) placement, including adolescents. As healthcare providers strive to provide person-centered care in an increasingly complex information environment, we need to ensure that we are supporting patients and providing evidence-based care while addressing patients’ concerns. The experience of pain is individualized and influenced by many factors. This session will discuss the common concern of pain and anxiety during IUD placement and the importance of honoring autonomy and preferences. Using an interactive format, the experts will present case studies, conduct polling, and share and solicit from the audience best practices and insights on how to implement the updated recommendations into different clinical settings and practices.

This panel discussion can have substantial impact on the field of family planning as CDC contraceptive guidelines are key federal recommendations that promote high quality contraceptive services and person-centered contraceptive care. The last comprehensive update for the U.S. SPR was published in 2016.1 It is crucial to identify opportunities for SAHM members to learn about updated 2024 CDC guideline recommendations as SAHM members are a key and important audience in the dissemination and implementation of the recommendations. This topic is also especially relevant to SAHM members given the rise in social media content on patient experiences with IUD placement, which can affect patient perception and use of IUD as well as trust in healthcare providers and systems.2,3

Clinical practice: Evidence-based guidance can support health care providers when providing person-centered counseling and contraceptive services, including counseling4 and provision of pain management for IUD placement. This panel will discuss updated clinical practice guidelines and recommendations that directly impact counseling and provision of IUDs.

Education and training: This panel’s focus on updated CDC contraceptive guidelines will affect the development of new curricula for medical education. It is important that future healthcare providers are aware of these updates and be able to disseminate and implement them into their future clinical practice.

Patient-centered care: CDC acknowledges the paramount importance of personal autonomy in contraceptive decision-making. The goal of CDC contraceptive recommendations is to remove unnecessary medical barriers to accessing and using contraception and to support the provision of person-centered contraceptive counseling and services. U.S. SPR recommendations can be used to support a person’s contraceptive decision-making. The experience of pain is individualized and influenced by many factors. This session will discuss the common concern of pain and anxiety during IUD placement and the importance of honoring autonomy and preferences.

This panel aligns with SAHM’s DEI goal in several ways. This panel consists of a racially and ethnically diverse group of experts from different disciplines (e.g., OB/Gyn, Adolescent Medicine, epidemiology), different geographic regions (e.g., Midwest, Southeast), and different clinical settings (e.g., academic, pediatric hospital, public safety net hospital). We will discuss how federal guidelines are one tool that can be used to address health inequities in contraceptive care by removing unnecessary medical barriers to accessing and using contraception and supporting the provision of person-centered contraceptive counseling and services.

Learning Objectives:

    1. Describe updates to CDC contraceptive guidelines on medications for intrauterine device (IUD) placement in U.S. Selected Practice Recommendations for Contraceptive Use, 2024 (U.S. SPR) and the evidence base for these recommendations.
    2. Discuss patient concerns related to online conversations about IUD pain management, and the importance of health care providers supporting autonomy, equity, and person-centered care for pain management with IUD placement.
    3. List 3 strategies to improve pain management for IUD placement in different clinical settings.
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