About the Council on Adolescents and Young Adults

The Council aims to serve as the home within the AAP for issues and topics related to the care and unique needs of AYA. Our long-term goals include:

• Enhancing the knowledge and skills of pediatricians and other members of the health care team in managing the health care needs of AYA, recognizing that this is an integral part of primary care;
• Supporting pediatricians in serving as advocates for and with AYA;
• Advocating at the state and federal levels to protect, enhance, and improve access to AYA care, as well as for adequate payment for providing AYA care, appropriate compensation for providers (for both primary and subspecialty care), and a safe and healthy work environment for providers.

The top programmatic objectives for the Council are in the following areas:

Policy: This includes maintaining current policy statements, clinical reports, and technical reports on key adolescent and young adult health topics; identifying topics for future policy; and evaluating endorsement opportunities from external partner organizations. You can see the current published policy here (please note that policy up to this point were published by COA).

Education: This includes educational programming at the AAP National Conference (half-day Council program and general sessions); adolescent health multi-day course (offered every other year); and other educational opportunities (eg, webinars, podcasts, etc)

Publications: This includes a Council newsletter and articles in AAP News, Pediatrics, and other publications.

Collaborations: These include internal collaborations with other AAP entities, grant-funded projects, and subspecialty and health promotion alliances; and external collaborations with our organizational liaisons.

Advocacy: This includes advocacy at many levels - federal, state/chapter, external partners, and AAP members. 

The Council also aims to achieve the following operational objectives:

Executive Committee Engagement via subcommittees

Council Member Engagement to encourage involvement in Council activities

Communication to keep all Council members informed

Membership Recruitment and expansion of membership categories

Chapter Engagement to support chapter activities and initiatives

Internal and External Collaborations on mutual areas of interest to advance the AYA agenda