Adolescent Medicine Fellowship

The Adolescent Medicine Fellowship program prepares physicians for leadership positions in academic medicine and public health. The program is open to pediatricians, internists and family medicine physicians and includes comprehensive training in tertiary and primary care adolescent medicine, research methods and quality improvement, and professional development.

Indiana University School of Medicine provides a rigorous interdisciplinary training experience. Adolescent medicine has faculty from diverse disciplines including psychology and sociology. As an adolescent medicine fellow, you will work with residents and fellows across the School of Medicine, as well as trainees in nursing, social work, and psychology. Research and community leadership opportunities for fellows include collaborations in public health, education, and social services. This interdisciplinary environment provides opportunities to receive input, education, and mentorship from multiple disciplinary perspectives.

Program Leadership

Apply for Fellowship

To apply for the Adolescent Medicine Fellowship program at IU School of Medicine, submit an application through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) and include the required documents.

ERAS

Program Director

Mary A. Ott, MD

Professor of Pediatrics

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Program Coordinator

Pediatric Nephrology fellowship coordinator

Lyn Terrell

IU Leadership Education in Adolescent Health: IU LEAH

The Division of Adolescent Medicine is one of seven programs nationally to have a multidisciplinary training program in adolescent and young adult (AYA) health. Each year, the program prepares medicine, nursing, psychology, and social work graduate and post-graduate trainees for diverse professions in AYA health through didactic and experiential mentored learning, research training, professional development, and community engagement. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and access are embedded in all training components, and the program works to expand strategies and effective practices across the state to improve health services, well being, and support for AYAs.

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Discover what fellowship in Adolescent Medicine has to offer

Curriculum

Fellowship activities are designed to provide the clinical, teaching, research, program and advocacy skills necessary for leadership positions in adolescent medicine. Key aspects of the curriculum include:

discipline-specific role models
formal instruction
supervised application of new knowledge and skills
the opportunity to teach others

Over the three-year period, approximately 50% of time is devoted to clinical training and 50% to research, education and community-based work. All fellows have a Scholarship Oversight Committee to plan and individualize their curriculum, and to assess progress across the fellowship.

A core curriculum provides didactic instruction in adolescent health and research methods. Clinical and community leadership experiences permit the application of new skills and knowledge, and provide an opportunity to interact with disciplines and agencies important for comprehensive care of youth. Health planning, policy and advocacy are taught through a graduate seminar in adolescent health and community-based experiences.

Fellows have the opportunity to work with adolescent faculty consulting with community agencies and government programs for youth. As a small state, Indiana is an ideal environment to learn health policy and advocacy.

Graduate Seminar in Adolescent Health

Fellows participate in a weekly 3-hour multidisciplinary seminar in adolescent health. Content includes presentations by topic experts, journal club, research- in-progress, case based discussions, research methods, and leadership training. The overall goals are to: (1) Advance knowledge of core adolescent health topics including growth and development, puberty, nutrition, and the medical, psychological and social morbidities affecting youth; (2) Develop research skills in adolescent heath, including research design and analysis; and (3) Increase skills in collaborative and community-based work, communication and problem-solving strategies, advocacy and leadership skills.
Exceptional Faculty Mentors

Fellows at IU School of Medicine will work with a vibrant, multidisciplinary group of faculty. Core faculty members within the Division of Adolescent Medicine represent multiple specialties, including pediatrics, internal medicine, psychology, and sociology. Affiliate faculty include gynecology, children’s health services, nursing, social work, and public health. Expertise ranges from STIs and sexual health to juvenile justice to ethics. Faculty hold leadership positions in national organizations, including the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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More about our program

Current Fellows

Lauren A. Bell, MPH, MD

PGY 6

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Carolyn Curry, MD

PGY 6

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Nomi K. Sherwin, MD

PGY 6

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Clinical Training

The adolescent medicine program provides nearly 50,000 visits per year to adolescents, ages 11 – 24 years old in both subspecialty and primary care settings. We believe that adolescent medicine physicians should train across a variety of settings.

Subspecialty Adolescent Training
Inpatient and outpatient subspecialty training occurs primarily at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health, one of the top children’s hospitals in the nation. While on-service, fellows lead an adolescent consultation service at Riley Hospital. Outpatient adolescent subspecialty care is provided at a downtown IU Health location, and the Charis Eating Disorders Program (an IU Health satellite clinic). Subspecialty outpatient experiences include the following:
- The Adolescent Consultation Clinic provides care for complex conditions to adolescents referred by physicians throughout Indiana.
- The Adolescent & Young Adult Reproductive and Sexual Health Program offers consultative care to children, adolescents and young adults for gynecological concerns, menstrual disorders, and contraception, including long acting reversible contraceptive placement and contraception in adolescents with chronic illness.
- The Charis Center for Eating Disorders provides comprehensive evaluation and treatment for children, adolescents and adults. Multidisciplinary services include outpatient care, an intensive outpatient program, and a partial hospitalization program.
- The Gender Health Program evaluates for gender dysphoria, adjustment to social transition, gender identity transition, and readiness for puberty blocking and/or gender affirming hormones.
- Adolescent Medicine faculty provide care through collaborative program, including a hematology and adolescent medicine clinic, a multidisciplinary cancer survivor program, and an onco-fertility program
Primary Care Adolescent Training

Faculty direct and staff a system of community-based adolescent clinics where fellows learn adolescent primary care and population health. The Teen Care Program through Eskenazi Health maintains a system of 6 adolescent clinics providing primary care and reproductive health care for low income teens in Marion County in community settings. The Teen Care Program is a designated medical home for adolescents, and serves diverse cultural and linguistic populations.
Additional Clinical Experiences & Electives

All fellows will rotate in sports medicine and the Bellflower STD Clinic. Electives are based upon fellow interest and time. Recent fellow electives have included advanced training in eating disorders and gender health, palliative care, clinical ethics, dermatology, school-based health, and substance use disorder.

Research Training

Research training is an integral part of the fellowship, and may be in clinical research, translational research, basic science, or community-based research. Fellows’ research training activities include:

formal coursework in biostatistics, research design, research methods and ethics
advanced research topics through the Graduate Seminar in Adolescent Health
completion of mentored research.

Fellows may complete additional coursework towards a master’s degree (see below). For the mentored research project, sufficient time, support, and guidance are given during the fellowship program to allow for completion of meaningful work.

Year One - Getting Your Feet Wet with Mentored Research

Early in the first year of fellowship, trainees are exposed to the research activities of investigators in Adolescent Medicine. By the end of the first quarter, the fellow selects a faculty for an initial mentored research experience. Using extant data within the division, the fellow and mentor prepare an abstract for presentation at the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine annual meeting.
Years Two and Three - Main Research Project

Fellows’ main research projects may be part of a faculty member’s research program, or may be an independent project developed in conjunction with adolescent faculty. Examples of fellow projects include an analysis of data collected as part of a larger project on oral contraceptive adherence, interviews with adolescent cancer patients and their parents about fertility preservation, depo self-administration, adolescent preventive care in family medicine, and the confluence of pregnancy and new HIV diagnosis in Western Kenya.

Fellows select their primary research topic in the second half of Year 1. They are expected to create their research protocol, submit their IRB application, and collect data across the next two years. Fellows typically have presented their research findings at national meetings of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine and have been the first author of a manuscript submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Master's Degrees and Research Tracks

Fellows may complete coursework leading to a Master’s Degree. The Indiana University School of Medicine CITE program leads to a Master’s of Science in Clinical Research, and the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health provides opportunities for a Master’s in Public Health (MPH). Individual fellows have also chosen to pursue other degrees and certification, such as clinical ethics. Fellows interested in a career in research are encouraged to apply for one of IU School of Medicine's NIH Supported T32 Research Training Awards.

Applications

Applicants must be U.S. citizens or have permanent resident status and be eligible for licensure in Indiana. International graduates must have verification of ECFMG certification and residency must have been completed through an ACGME accredited program, or a CFPC- accredited program or an RCPSC- accredited program located in Canada within the last 5 years. Please provide three letters of recommendations (one of which must come from the Director of their residency program), transcripts from college and medical school, and scores on USMLE. Please apply online and send all information/inquiries/CV to:

Lynette Terrell
Fellowship Coordinator

Mary A. Ott, MD, MA
Director of Fellowship Training

Division of Adolescent Medicine
Indiana University School of Medicine
Health Information and Translational Sciences Building
410 W. 10th St.,
Suite 1001
Indianapolis, IN 46202