CHOP Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Program

CHOP Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Program

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Leadership Education in Adolescent and Young Adult Health (LEAH) Program is supported by a federal training grant from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

CHOP LEAH Program mission

The CHOP Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) fellowship program provides interdisciplinary leadership training in adolescent health for five core disciplines, including medicine, nursing, nutrition, psychology and social work, with a focus on improving the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) ages 10-25.

This pre- and post-doctoral training prepares health professionals for leadership roles in public health, clinical care, research, training, and/or advocacy with the goal of improving youth-centered, family-involved, community-based services for AYAs and enhancing the capacity of public health Title V programs to respond to current/emerging health needs of youth. LEAH fellows are expected to have clear long-term interests in careers supporting AYA health.

We accomplish this by providing high quality interdisciplinary leadership graduate and postgraduate training focused on improving the health and well-being of AYA and meeting AYA Healthy People 2020 goals. 

The CHOP LEAH Program leverages the substantial institutional strengths of The University of Pennsylvania (PENN), CHOP, the Division of Adolescent Medicine at CHOP, as well as the longstanding clinical, research, and teaching collaborations among our outstanding faculty.

The Division of Adolescent Medicine, created in 1998, is part of a world-class pediatric center that provides comprehensive, interdisciplinary, patient/family-centered, culturally competent clinical care for children, adolescents, and young adults. Services are provided at CHOP's Main Hospital and through a network of 33 pediatric primary care practices located in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Division runs robust interdisciplinary programs, including an Inpatient Adolescent Medicine Service, Adolescent Specialty Clinic, Adolescent Primary Care Clinic co-located with Title X Family Planning, and an on-site clinic at Covenant House PA which serves homeless youth.

The Division of Adolescent Medicine has extensive collaborative relationships with community-based programs for vulnerable youth from at-risk environments. The Division also has a longstanding track record of collaboration with national, regional, and local organizations to develop/implement positive youth-development programs that are trauma-informed and infused with resilience-building strategies. Specifically, our members have collaborated to meet these objectives with The United States Job Corps, U.S. Military, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Covenant House International, UNICEF, and National Congress of American Indians among others. Our Division stands out for its longstanding research and educational efforts to support effective parent-adolescent relationships.

Who are LEAH Fellows?

The CHOP LEAH Fellowship Program provides interdisciplinary leadership training in adolescent health with a focus on five core disciplines including medicine, nursing, nutrition, psychology, and social work. This pre- and post-doctoral training prepares health professionals for leadership roles in public health practice, clinical care, research, training, and/or advocacy with the goal of improving youth-centered, family-involved, community-based services for AYAs and enhancing the capacity of public health Title V programs to respond to current/emerging health needs of youth. LEAH fellows are expected to have clear long-term interests in careers supporting AYA health.

Long-term LEAH Fellows

  • All medical LEAH fellows are also full-time physician fellows in the 3-year Division of Adolescent Medicine post-doctoral subspecialty fellowship program.
  • All psychology LEAH fellows are full-time post-doctoral trainees in the Division of Adolescent Medicine.
  • All nursing, nutrition, and social work LEAH fellows must have a bachelor’s degree and be working on a master’s degree or a doctoral degree. They will receive a minimum of 50% of their total training experience as part of the program components directly under the control/supervision of LEAH training faculty.
  • All LEAH fellows will complete a minimum of 300 hours of LEAH leadership and didactic training, in addition to LEAH fieldwork and clinical training requirements.
  • LEAH leadership and didactic training will include core courses, conferences, seminars, journal clubs and exposures to clinical and community environments serving AYA.
  • LEAH fellows must also successfully complete discipline-specific requirements for degree programs, if appropriate.

Time commitment

  • Medical and psychology LEAH fellows participate in multi-year, 12-month fellowship.
  • Nursing, nutrition and social work LEAH fellows participate in a a nine-month fellowship that runs from September – May. General schedule expectations include being available for training experiences:
    • Monday mornings 9 a.m. - noon, from September through May
    • Monday evenings 5 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., from January through April
    • Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. the entire fellowship
    • One-day train trip to Harrisburg, PA, to meet state Title V leadership and staff
    • One- to four-day Rural AYA Health experience in Hershey, PA (travel, lodging, food costs covered)
    • One-day CHOP LEAH Regional AYA Health Conference every Fall
    • Participation in Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) annual national meeting (registration, approved travel, lodging, food costs covered)

Funding

Medical and psychology LEAH Fellow 1.0 FTE for 12-month stipend (July-June) based on federal LEAH post-doctoral base salary.

Nursing, nutrition and social work LEAH fellows 0.50 FTE of nine-month stipend (September-May) for one masters or pre-doctoral trainee based on LEAH pre-doctoral base salary.

Applications

If you are a physician interested in the Adolescent Medicine Fellowship Program please apply through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) for positions beginning each July.

If you are in other disciplines (nursing, nutrition, psychology or social work) please complete the LEAH Fellowship application and send to Bea Chestnut at chestnut@chop.edu. Download information on the CHOP Recruitment of Nurse, Nutrition and Social Work LEAH fellows and the Psychology Post-Doctoral LEAH Fellowship.

Contact information

For applications and further information

General information

Discipline-specific contacts

Medicine

Nursing

Nutrition

Psychology

Social Work

Tobacco-free hiring policy

To help preserve and improve the health of our patients, their families and our employees, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has a tobacco-free hiring policy. This policy applies to all candidates for employment (other than those with regularly scheduled hours in New Jersey) for all positions, including those covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Job applicants who apply after July 1, 2014, will be expected to sign an attestation stating they’ve been free of nicotine or tobacco products in any form for the prior thirty (30) days. They will also undergo a cotinine test as a part of the Occupational Health pre-placement drug screen administered after the offer of employment has been accepted but before the first day of hire.

Exemptions: Attending physicians (excluding CHOP physicians in the Care Network), psychologists, principal investigators and/or Penn-based faculty are exempt from this process to better align with our colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.