Chesapeake Regional Chapter

Officers:

President: Maria Trent, MD, MPH, FSAHM
mtrent2@Jhmi.edu

President Elect: Kirsten Hawkins, MD
KBH103@gunet.georgetown.edu

Treasurer: Abigail Donaldson, MD
adonald3@jhmi.edu

Secretary: Lana Lee, MD
llee74@jhmi.edu

Members-at-Large

David Reitman, M.D., MBA
drdavid@teenmd.com

Krishna Upadhya, MD
Krishna.K.Upadhya@gunet.georgetown.edu

Our Mission:

The Chesapeake Regional Chapter of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine serves the Washington, D.C, Maryland, and northern Virginia area. Our members come from a variety of medical and non-medical disciplines including physicians, nurse practitioners, psychologists, social workers, health educators, and other health professionals. We are committed to improving the physical and psychosocial health and well-being of all adolescents through advocacy, clinical care, health promotion, health service delivery, professional development, and research.

Our Objectives:

Promoting positive youth development, illness prevention, achievement of individual potential and a sense of physical, mental, and social well-being.
Pursuing optimal adolescent health and developmentally-appropriate health care, thru scientific research which provides the evidence base for effective health promotion as well as prevention and treatment of illness and injury
Promoting respect for individual dignity, equity, and justice, and recognition that age-appropriate, developmentally-sensitive health care is a right and not a privilege
Advancing adolescent health by increasing awareness of the health needs of adolescents and young adults through effective advocacy, communication and dissemination of knowledge.
Recognizing that advancing adolescent health depends upon effective partnerships among adolescents, families, health professionals, public and private sectors, communities, schools, and other social institution

Highlights of Recent Chapter Activities:

Spring Meeting: Dr. Elizabeth Woods from Boston Children's Hospital facilitated an engaging discussion on “Adolescent Risk and Resiliency” on June 3rd, 2008. She recommended encouraging teen connectiveness to family, school and community, strengthening the role of adults in teens’ lives,optimizing office interviewing, and assisting teens to enhance personal skills and self-worth. Twenty-eight Chesapeake SAHM members attended the dinner and lecture held in Bethesda, MD. Dr Woods also was the featured speaker for theRobert S. Rixse Memorial Lecture the following morning at Children’s National Medical Center.
The first annual Dr. Sunita Saxena/Hoop Dreams Scholarship was awarded on June 11, 2008 to a graduating senior from H.D. Woodson Senior High School in Washington, D.C. This award was established in memory of Dr. Sunita Saxena, who served as clinic director at the high school’s Wellness Center from 1996 until her passing in 2002. Her career in Adolescent Medicine spanned two decades and during her tenure as Associate Professor of Adolescent Medicine at Howard University Hospital, she touched the lives of children, adolescents and their families. This year, inspired by her life and work with teen patients, the staff at H.D. Woodson High School’s Wellness Center collaborated with The Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund, a non-profit mentorship and scholarship organization, to establish this award in Dr. Saxena’s honor. The award recipient was chosen from a group of highly qualified graduating seniors, all of whom had to demonstrate a G.P.A. of 3.0 or better, submit essays reflecting their commitment to their community and be accepted to a college or university with a chosen major in the health related professions. Dr. Saxena’s husband and daughters were in attendance at the Woodson graduation to present this first annual award of $4000 to Ms. Antoinette August Smalley, a young lady who would like to major in Biology and pursue a career in medicine as an Obstetrician/Gynecologist. To contribute to the Saxena Scholarship Fund, please contact Harshita Saxena at hsaxena@cnmc.org
Fall Meeting 2008: The October 22nd regional meeting, co-hosted with the Maryland AAP Section of Adolescent Health and Substance Abuse Committee, was attended by 31 people. Amy Klamberg, CRNP, was awarded the local Saxena Chapter Award for her tireless service to adolescent patients in the community. Three trainee presentations were given to showcase research in adolescent medicine that health care providers in the region are performing and provide a forum for discussion. Allison Heinly, BS, and medical student, presented “Results of a Randomized Trial to Improve Bone Health Knowledge and Behaviors among Adolescent Survivors of Childhood Cancer: The Survivor Health and Resilience Education (SHARE) Program.” Two senior fellows highlighted aspects of their research that will be presented at the annual SAM conference in Los Angeles: Brooke Rosman, MD discussed “Screening for Tuberculosis Exposure among Urban Adolescents,” and Krishna Upadhya, MD, discussed “What Boys Want: Attitudes towards getting a partner pregnant among adolescent and young adult males in a community cohort.” The meeting culminated in an energizing discussion by our guest Speaker, Mark Delmonte, JD, Assistant Director, Dept of Federal Affairs, American Academy of Pediatrics, "What now? Setting the Federal agenda to improve adolescent health: Opportunities and challenges in 2009."
Chapter members attended the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Regional Chapter’s Fall meeting (CAPSGW), this November 12, 2008. Dr. Jorge Srabstein spoke about "Public Health Risks Linked to Bullying."
The 1st Annual MCHB Region III Meeting focused on Health Disparities was hosted by the JHU LEAH Program on Friday, December 5, 2008 at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.
Winter Meeting 2009: We had a great experience with the 2009 Adele D. Hoffman Visiting Professor in Adolescent Medicine and Health, Dr. Kenneth Ginsberg. He was our guest for multiple presentations in the region, January 21-23rd, 2009, around the topic of “Resiliency in Action.”
Spring Meeting 2009: Dr. Tomas Silber, MD, MASS, Medical Director of the Don Delaney Eating Disorder Program at Children’s National Medical Center (CNMC), delivered an engaging presentation entitled, “Doing the Maudsley: Stories I Tell My Patients.” This presentation was given in conjunction with the annual Rixse Grand Rounds lecture at CNMC, and was co-sponsored by Dr. Lawrence D’Angelo, Chairman, Division of Adolescent & Young Adult Medicine, CNMC

List Serve/Membership:
Our Chesapeake SAHM list serve provides a forum for communicating local events, as well as, discussing adolescent topics and providing resources. To subscribe to the Chesapeake SAHM list serve, email our secretary Eva Moore, M.D. at emoore5@jhmi.edu. Our membership dues are $30 per year. For membership information please contact: Harshita Saxena at hsaxena@cnmc.org

Amy Klamberg (left), our 2008 Saxena Chapter Award Winner, with Treasurer Harshita Saxena