Division of Adolescent Medicine

Nadia Dowshen

Dr. Dowshen is the Director of Adolescent HIV Services and co-Director of the Gender and Sexuality Development Clinic at CHOP. Dr. Dowshen also provides medical care at Covenant House, a youth shelter in Philadelphia. She is an active researcher with a focus on adolescents at-risk for and living with HIV/AIDS. A key area of her research focuses on using youth-friendly technology to improve adherence to antiretroviral therapy and improve other health outcomes for adolescents living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS. She was recently awarded a K23 award (September 2014) by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to develop a mobile health (mHealth) intervention for secondary prevention among HIV+ young men who have sex with men (YMSM) and young transgender women (YTW). She has also been awarded a 4 yr 1.2 million dollar HRSA Special Programs of National Significance (SPNS) grant in partnership with Philadelphia FIGHT to improve engagement and retention in care among HIV+ youth across the care continuum. This project will evaluate an app for adherence and retention in care and the iknowushould2 (hyperlink if possible) web platform and social media campaign developed at CHOP. Another major area of Dr. Dowshen's active research focuses on improving care and health outcomes for gender non-confirming and transgender youth including projects around 1) barriers and facilitators to medical and mental health services for young transgender women across the HIV care continuum, 2) identifying needs and strengths in accessing medical care and other services for gender non-conforming children and their families in the Philadelphia area from the perspective of provider and youth/parent stakeholders, and 3) improve our understanding of pediatricians' knowledge of and attitudes toward caring for gender non-conforming children and adolescents and then developing and evaluating targeted educational interventions for providers. More generally, Dr. Dowshen collaborates on a number of projects related to adolescent sexual and reproductive health and addressing health inequities faced by other marginalized youth including homeless and LGBT adolescents and young adults.