The Center for Adolescent Health at Stanford

The Center for Adolescent Health at Stanford has a longstanding commitment to improving the health of adolescents and young adults.  The first adolescent clinic at Stanford was established in 1918, probably the first clinic of its kind in the United States.¹

The Division of Adolescent Medicine was established in 1976 by Dr. Iris Litt and is dedicated to promoting the physical and emotional well-being of adolescents and young adults through clinical care, education, research, and advocacy.

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford cares for some of the highest acuity pediatric patients in the country, and the Division of Adolescent Medicine provides consultative services to hospitalized adolescents and young adults.  The Comprehensive Care Program (CCP), located at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, is internationally known for its exceptional multidisciplinary care for adolescents and young adults with medical complications associated with eating disorders and has served as a model of care for other institutions.  Leaders of the program are nationally and internationally recognized for their research on the management of adolescents and young adults with eating disorders that has led to important changes in the management of these conditions. Out-patient clinical care is offered through the Teen and Young Adult Clinic, Eating Disorders Clinic, Teen Health Van, Adolescent Gynecology Clinic, Weight Clinic, Vaden Student Health Services, and Juvenile Hall.

The division’s postdoctoral fellowship training program provides world-class instruction in the management of adolescents and young adults at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of care, and provides the requisite skills and knowledge to become independent investigators.  The fellowship program strives to train the next generation of academicians in the field of Adolescent Medicine. Stanford medical students and pediatric residents rotate through our inpatient and outpatient services and gain exposure to a wide array of medical and psychosocial problems encountered by adolescents and young adults from diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds.

Research in the division focuses on adolescent health-related decision making, medical management of adolescents and young adults with eating disorders, morbidities associated with the female athlete triad, sexual and reproductive health and prevention of gender-based violence.

Advocacy efforts led by the faculty address confidentiality, reproductive health care, access to mental health services, health-related decision-making, care of the homeless and underinsured, food insecurity, eating disorders prevention and prevention of gender-based violence, health information technology and access to confidential care, tobacco control and other preventives services, and global health.

^{1. Ref: Gates A.E.  The work of the adolescent clinic of Stanford University Medical School.  Arch Pediatr 1918, 236-243}