The Center for Adolescent Health and the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at JHSPH are pleased to announce our search for a postdoctoral fellow for a one-year appointment beginning in the fall of 2008. This fellowship specifically involves analyzing fourth wave data from a nationally representative longitudinal survey, the National Survey of Adolescent Males (NSAM). Deadline for applications is June 1, 2008. For more information on the fellowship, click here.

Join us in welcoming new staff members, Center Administrator Sara Agarwhal and Administrative Coodinator Elsie Quartson, and congratulating Helen Beckstrom on her new position as Senior Development Associate.

Center director Dr. Freya Sonenstein co-authored an article, "Designing a Household Survey to Address Seasonality in Child Care Arrangements," which has been published in the current issue of the journal Evaluation Review. To access the article, click here.

Are you a youth between the ages of 12 and 20, or do you know any young people who want to spend the summer learning something new or doing something creative? If so, you might be interested in the Center's Expanding Horizons Scholarship competition. Each spring, the Center accepts applications from Baltimore City students and awards the winners up to $500 to pursue summertime activities that promote growth and learning. For more information about the competition and the selection criteria, and to download an application, click here. The deadline is May 2, 2008.

The Center for Adolescent Health announces its "Issues Briefs" series, which will focus on topics impacting the physical, social and psychological well-being of young people in our communities. The first in the series is "Uncounted and Discounted: Homeless Youth in Baltimore City." It examines the causes of youth homelessness and poses strategies for reaching out to these dangerously at-risk youth. To download a copy of the at-a-glance Issues Focus, click here. To download a copy of the in-depth Issues Brief, click here. Upcoming Issues Briefs include a report on use of Baltimore City's parks and recreation centers by urban youth and a health profile of Baltimore male adolescents.

The Center's Deputy Director, Clea McNeely, DrPH, was quoted in an article on the AP Newswire about a recent study that explored how popularity can impact weight gain among young girls. Her comments were also featured on CNN and Yahoo! News. To read Dr. McNeely's editorial on social status and weight gain among adolescents, which appears in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, click here.

The website for the Johns Hopkins Adolescent Health Leadership Training program is currently under construction. In the meantime, the Center for Adolescent Health is providing vital information on an important new program. Click here to find out about this exciting new opportunity, which aims to develop the next generation of leaders in adolescent health and disease prevention.

The Center partnered with Baltimore City Police Athletic League (PAL) to assess the programs and to offer recommendations on improvement. The findings are available in the digest and full-length versions of the PAL Assessment Study.