Adolescent Health and Medicine

Over the past several years, members of the Division have lead and/or participated in research in adolescent health, often in collaboration with partners at BC Children’s Hospital and the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, UBC School of Social Work, UBC School of Nursing, and the McCreary Centre Society. Some examples of current research projects include:

• Collaboration with BC Centre for Substance Use on ethnographic study of adolescents admitted to the hospital with severe substance use and/or concurrent disorders.
• Pilot study of Mindful Awareness and Resilience Skills for Adolescent (MARS-A), mindfulness based intervention for adolescents with psychological distress, with or without co-occurring chronic pain and/or chronic illness.
• Research into the ways that adolescents’ with disabilities navigate major transitions (high school, adulthood).
• Investigations of foster co-parenting that enhances youths’ cultural engagement, integration into the family, and well-being.
• Case series of adolescents admitted to the hospital with severe substance use and/or concurrent disorders.

Faculty Research Pages:
Dr. Dzung X. Vo
Dr. Sara Jassemi
Dr. Basil Kadoura
Dr. Pei Yoong Lam
Dr. Eva Moore

The Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine is responsible for the academic leadership in UBC educational activities related to adolescent health. The Division educates medical students, Pediatrics residents, Adolescent Medicine subspecialty residents and clinical fellows, and trainees from other disciplines. The focus is on medical and biopsychosocial issues related to adolescent health through didactic learning and elective/rotation opportunities. The Division offers an Adolescent Medicine fellowship program for future Adolescent Medicine specialists, which is one of only four programs accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. The Division also offers weekly Adolescent Medicine Academic Half Days, including lectures and interactive workshops from Division faculty and invited guests on topics related to adolescent health. The Division values and promotes lifelong health professional wellness through workshops on resilience and mindfulness for trainees and staff alike.

Medical Student Education
Adolescent Medicine faculty direct the Adolescent Health and Development week for the Foundations of Medical Practice course in the UBC Faculty of Medicine second-year medical student curriculum. Adolescent Medicine faculty also lead and participate in the Adolescent Clinical Skills course for second-year medical students, which trains students in strength-based interviewing techniques with adolescents. The Division offers a popular elective in Adolescent Medicine for fourth-year medical students interested in adolescent health, as well as mentorship for individual medical student research and FLEX (Flexible Enhanced Learning) projects.

Resident Education
The Division provides a four-week rotation for all General Pediatrics residents at UBC, as well as elective rotations for visiting residents. During this rotation, residents receive inpatient and outpatient experiences in the care of adolescents with eating disorders, somatic symptom disorders, chronic illness, complex pain, substance use and concurrent disorders, gender diverse health needs, and sexual health. The Division also provides a rotating three-year curriculum in the UBC General Pediatrics Residency Program’s Academic Half Days, covering specialized areas of adolescent health, including eating disorders, adolescent growth and development, substance use and concurrent disorders, sexual health, risk and resiliency, strength-based clinical interviewing techniques, transition to adult care, chronic illness management, and mindfulness for health professionals.

Subspecialty Education & Fellowship
The Adolescent Medicine Subspecialty Residency Program and Clinical Fellowship Program at BC Children's Hospital provides advanced training in Adolescent Medicine for Royal College certified (or eligible) pediatricians as well as international fellows who have completed pediatric training elsewhere. The program has been accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada since 2010 and is the only accredited program in Western Canada. BC Children’s Hospital provides a rich training environment as the only pediatric hospital in British Columbia and the referral center for medically complex children and adolescents for the entire province. Clinical training is primarily conducted at BC Children’s Hospital, including the Adolescent Health Clinic and the Provincial Specialized Eating Disorder Program, as well as a network of community settings in Vancouver. In addition, the Division provides care and develops services for marginalized youth in a novel Social Pediatrics Program located in the most economically disadvantaged area of Vancouver.

Subspecialty residents participate in a formal weekly participatory and didactic Academic Half-Day curriculum covering critical topics of adolescent health, including interviewing, assessment and counseling skills, evaluation and management of specific physical and mental health conditions, ethical complexity and uncertainty, adolescent risk and resiliency, mindfulness-based interventions, and public health. In addition, residents take graduate-level classes at the University of British Columbia on research methodology and adolescent development.

Subspecialty residents pursue a research project under the supervision of Division faculty and research partners. The Division works closely with researchers at UBC and the McCreary Centre Society, which operates the largest Canadian survey of physical and emotional health of youth, to facilitate research training in adolescent health. The program is individualized to match the career goals and strengths of individual trainees. Ongoing feedback and mentorship are provided by Division faculty. Our program emphasizes models and principles of resilience and positive youth development. We aim to prepare graduates of this program for successful careers in Adolescent Medicine as leading clinicians, scholars, and educators in Canada and internationally.

We are in an incredibly exciting time in Adolescent Medicine in Canada, and British Columbia in particular. The field is now entering a growth phase, with opportunities for leadership. There is tremendous interest, energy, and potential to do new and creative work, and make a real difference in the lives of youth. Vancouver and British Columbia also offers a high quality of life, with a beautiful natural setting, a mild climate, a diverse population, and a wealth of cultural and athletic opportunities.

Please see the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons website for more general information on the subspecialty of Adolescent Medicine, including national requirements for applicants and for training programs.

We are currently recruiting Canadian applicants for subspecialty residency through the CaRMS Pediatric Subspecialty Match. We have limited capacity to train international clinical fellows in adolescent medicine as well.

Please view our Program Description for further details. Please contact Eva Moore, MD, Program Director of the Adolescent Medicine Fellowship Program, to learn more about the subspecialty residency and clinical fellowship program.

Download the BCCH Adolescent Medicine Subspecialty Residency Description_2020

Patient Care
The goals of the Division's clinical programs are to: (1) develop and maintain best practices for youth health; and (2) provide training opportunities for medical trainees.

Outpatient Services

- Adolescent Health Clinic
The BC Children’s Hospital Adolescent Health Clinic, established in 1999, is a specialized pediatric clinic that serves adolescents with complex health issues within the context of major medical, psychological, and social events during the transition to adulthood. The clinic is staffed by adolescent medicine subspecialist physicians, nurse clinicians, and medical trainees (as a teaching site of the University of British Columbia.) The Adolescent Health Clinic also works collaboratively with other pediatric clinics at BC Children’s Hospital to support adolescents who require specialized care.

The Adolescent Health Clinic, in collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry, developed the Mindful Awareness and Resilience Skills for Adolescents (MARS-A) program, an 8-week outpatient mindfulness-based intervention for adolescents with psychological distress, including those living with chronic illness or chronic pain.

The Wrap Youth Clinic within the Adolescent Health Clinic is a pilot teaching clinical collaboration between the WRAP alternative school in Surrey BC, and the Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine. In order to respond to our adolescent medicine subspecialty training requirements and a gap in unmet health care needs identified by the WRAP program, Adolescent Medicine has joined with WRAP to pilot a teaching clinic. The goals of this clinic are to enhance medical education, promote health care engagement, perform assessment of health care needs, provide tertiary level health consultation, including referral to services, and bridge to primary care.

- Social Pediatrics
The Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine is a core component of the Social Pediatrics Program, which is a place-based program of BC Children’s Hospital. The first program of its kind in BC, the Social Pediatrics Program seeks to address systemic health equity disparities and social determinants of health. The model recognizes the importance of trusted relationships and seeks to increase capacity and resilience for the families served.

- Gender Clinic
Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine physicians are part of the multidisciplinary team that staffs the Gender Clinic at BC Children’s Hospital, providing youth friendly, developmentally appropriate gender affirming care.

- Complex Pain Service
Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine physicians are part of the multidisciplinary team that staffs the Complex Pain Service at BC Children’s Hospital, providing assessment and treatment for youth with complex/chronic pain.

- Oak Tree Clinic
Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine physicians are part of the multidisciplinary team that staffs this clinic, located at BC Women’s Hospital, on the same campus as BC Children’s Hospital. Oak Tree Clinic provides specialized care for women and children living with HIV/AIDS, reproductive infectious disease and congenital infectious disease.

- Eating Disorders Program
The Provincial Specialized Eating Disorders Program at BC Children’s Hospital is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, specialized program to assess and treat children and adolescents with eating disorders. Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine physicians provide medical leadership (jointly with child and adolescent psychiatry) and medical care at this program. The Eating Disorders Program includes an inpatient unit, an outpatient clinic, and a day treatment program, and provides tertiary consultations to eating disorder providers across the province.

Inpatient Medical Services

- Adolescent Medicine Inpatient Service
The Division’s physicians provide an inpatient medical service for adolescents who are acutely unwell from medical complications of eating disorders in the BC Children’s Hospital Teck Acute Care Centre. The Division also offers inpatient consultations for adolescents with complex medical and biopsychosocial issues, such as chronic pain, somatization and disorders of mind-body connection, avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder, biopsychosocial difficulties in chronic illness, high-risk sexual health issues, and complex ethical challenges. These consultations are provided in inpatient areas throughout BC Children’s Hospital, including the Teck Acute Care Centre, Healthy Minds Centre, and the Emergency Department. The Division has also cared for adolescents hospitalized for life-threatening substance use and concurrent disorders, in the context of the opioid crisis which was declared a public health emergency in British Columbia in 2016.

- Substance Use Response and Facilitation (SURF)
Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine physicians are part of this interdisciplinary team that is based in the Healthy Minds Centre and provides consultations within BC Children’s Hospital for children and youth with substance use concerns.

Support Services

- Transition to Adult Health Care
The Youth Health Program Transition Model (ON TRAC) was introduced to the ambulatory clinics at BC Children's Hospital in the late 1990s and has since undergone several updates. This model aims to provide uninterrupted, developmentally appropriate care for young people prior to and throughout their transfer into the adult health care system. Division members liaise with providers and teams both within and outside of BC Children’s Hospital, including the Scotiabank Youth Transition Program (SYTP) and BC Divisions of Family Practice, to provide consultation, education, and support.

- Mindfulness
The BC Children’s Hospital Centre for Mindfulness was founded in 2019, in part growing out of mindfulness activities in the Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine. The Centre for Mindfulness is devoted to cultivating a more mindful hospital community and culture to best support our patients, caregivers, parents, and health professionals.

Faculty:
Dzung X. Vo, MD, FAAP, FSAHM, Clinical Associate Professor, Division Head, Director of BC Children’s Hospital Centre for Mindfulness
Basil Kadoura, MD, FRCPC, Clinical Instructor
Sara Jassemi, MD, FRCPC, Clinical Assistant Professor, Division Lead for Quality Improvement and Safety
Katie Mitchell, MD, Consulting Physician (Locum)
Eva Moore, MD, MSPh, Clinical Associate Professor and Program Director, Adolescent Medicine Subspecialty Residency and Clinical Fellowship Training Program
Pei-Yoong Lam, MBBS, FRCPC, Clinical Associate Professor, Xo-Medical Director, Provincial Specialized Eating Disorders Program
Tatiana Sotindjo, MD, Clinical Instructor
Tara Tandan, MD, Clinical Instructor
Nicole (Nikki) Tyminski, MD, Clinical Instructor
Andrea Wallace, MD, FRCPC, Clinical Assistant Professor, Division Lead for Transition to Adult Health Care
James Wang, MD, FRCPC, Clinical Assistant Professor

Associate Faculty:
Sheila Marshall, PhD, School of Social Work, UBC
Grant Charles, PhD, School of Social Work, UBC

Affiliate Faculty:
Dewey Evans, PhD

Emeritus Faculty
Sandy Whitehouse, MD

Staff:
Sarb Bains, Division Secretary
Andrei Madasov, Fellowship Program Coordinator and Rotation Coordinator