Section of Adolescent Medicine

Welcome to the Section of Adolescent Medicine at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children’s Hospital! We thank you for visiting our site today.

I am Dr. Kelly Curran, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Section Chief of Adolescent Medicine. I joined UAMS and Arkansas Children’s Hospital in 2022.  I am incredibly fortunate to have amazing colleagues, who are passionate and dedicated to improving the health of teens. Our team includes board-certified Adolescent Medicine physicians and a nurse practitioner, who have years of experience caring for adolescents.  We have re-envisioned the section, and we are working to grow our faculty and further develop our clinical, education and research missions to improve adolescent health.

Mission Statement

The Section of Adolescent Medicine strives to promote the health and well-being of adolescents across the state of Arkansas through high-quality, evidenced-based, individualized care which is tailored to the needs of teens.  We will advance our mission through patient-centered clinical practice, medical education, clinical research, and advocacy.

Our Vision

We champion teens by making them better today and healthier tomorrow through our service as the leader in promotion of health, well-being and equity for Arkansas’ adolescents. We mentor and train future healthcare professionals and researchers in real-world, clinical environments.

Clinical Services

Adolescent Medicine specialists understand the complex challenges that teenagers and their families face.  Our board-certified specialists provide comprehensive evaluation and treatment for the health needs of adolescent patients.  At the heart of Adolescent Medicine is interdisciplinary care. Our clinics have integrated dietitian and social work support, and we collaborate closely with primary care and other subspecialists to care for our patients. Many teens in Arkansas face significant health disparities—our team is committed to advocacy and health equity for all adolescents.

As our section grows, we will further expand our clinical consultative services—to harness expertise of our faculty and serve our patients’ needs. As we look toward the future, we see opportunities to expand clinical services to pregnant/parenting teens and their children, develop a young men’s health program and substance abuse treatment services, and collaborate to improve transition care for adolescent and young adults with chronic illness at ACH/UAMS.

Education and Mentoring

The Section of Adolescent Medicine is home to award-winning educators. Many of our section members hold advanced degrees or done additional training in medical education. Our members are involved in medical education on the local and national levels. We have years of experience educating and mentoring medical students, residents, fellows, and allied health professionals. Our section is dedicated to training health professionals about adolescent health. As we look toward the future, we are working towards the development of an Adolescent Medicine fellowship at UAMS and Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Research

The section is evolving its research mission. Adolescent Medicine is a relatively nascent field, with evolving teen health risks and behaviors.  Section members participate in educational and clinical research. We know that teens in Arkansas have high rates of health disparities and risk-taking behaviors when compared nationally—this poses an amazing opportunity to better understand adolescent health and to develop innovative solutions to tackling the challenges our patients face.

Thank you again for visiting our site. I hope you enjoyed learning about our program. Please continue to browse to learn more about our team and our work. If you’re interested in learning more about adolescent medicine or our growing section, please reach out!  I’d love to connect with you!

Sincerely,