Division of Adolescent Medicine

Carol Ford

Dr. Ford is Chief of the Division. She is an internist, pediatrician, Adolescent Medicine subspecialist physician and adolescent health researcher with a long history of research and clinical work to improve adolescent health. Her adolescent health research portfolio has focused on themes of adolescent access to high quality health care, adolescent patient-physician communication, and adolescent privacy concerns. Dr. Ford’s most recent interest has been in understanding strategies to influence adolescent patient-physician-parent communication to improve adolescent health. She recently established a divisional research program entitled Patients, Parents, and Professionals Partnering to Improve Adolescent Health Program (P4). This team recently completed a pilot project documenting that parents and adolescents want health care professionals to help them learn, and talk about, a wide range of adolescent health topics. In follow-up, Dr. Ford is PI on a pilot randomized control trial that is designed to determine the effectiveness of evidence-based interventions delivered in primary care clinic settings to increase parent-teen communication, influence adolescent health behaviors, and improve health outcomes related to sexual health, alcohol use, and teen driving.