Department Chair
Welcome from the Department Chair
Welcome to the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.
The specialty of pediatrics is concerned with the physical, emotional and social health of children from birth to young adulthood. At WMed, our clinical practice and training of medical students and residents in pediatrics is based on the guidance from the key professional organizations that govern and represent the specialty of pediatrics. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the professional society that represents more than 67, 000 pediatricians in the United States and abroad, provides the guiding principles for the clinical practice of pediatrics:
Pediatric care may begin periconceptionally and continues through gestation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Although adolescence and young adulthood are recognizable phases of life, an upper age limit is not easily demarcated and varies depending on the individual patient. The establishment of arbitrary age limits on pediatric care health care providers should be discouraged. The decision to continue care with a pediatrician or pediatric medical or surgical specialist should be made solely by the patient (and family, when appropriate) and the physician and must take into account the physical and psychological needs of the patient and the abilities of the pediatric provider to meet these needs.
The department is a long-standing close, collaborative partnership between the WMed, Bronson Children’s Hospital and a number of community-based organizations coming together to provide a wide range of pediatric and adolescent medicine clinical services. In addition, our collaboration and community partnerships serve as the basis for medical student education, pediatric and medicine-pediatrics residency training and research and scholarly activities.