Using multidisciplinary care teams, clinical services are provided to children and adolescents with a number of chronic conditions, including the following:
Most of these clinical services are located at La Rabida Children’s Hospital. In addition to providing psychological services to children coping with chronic conditions, the Behavioral Sciences Group also provides care and support to young victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect and also serves children and adolescents in the Burn Unit at the University of Chicago Medical Center. In Park Forest the Children’s Advocacy Center performs forensic interviewing for sexually abused children and provides diagnoses and therapies for them. The new La Rabida Chicago Child Trauma Center on Stony Island Avenue provides diagnostic and therapeutic services for children exposed to both physical and psychological trauma. This Center is a member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
The Chicago Children’s Diabetes Center has programs both at La Rabida Children’s Hospital and at the Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago. This unique Center offers thorough diagnosis and evaluation, medical management, nutritional support programs, personalized counseling and family education.
The Sickle Cell Disease program addresses the special needs of families affected by all types of sickle cell disease, including sickle cell anemia, sickle C disease, and sickle-beta thalassemia conditions. Services such as genetic counseling, disease management, and pain management are provided.
Clinical services are provided for ventilator-dependent children, both while they are in the hospital and when they are transitioning to their home environment. The multiple birth clinic is in conjunction with the University of Chicago program and provides multidisciplinary primary and specialty care, education and assistance to families with twins, triplets and quadruplets.
Education
The Behavioral Sciences group has an American Psychological Association accredited doctoral internship program in child/pediatric psychology and several postdoctoral fellowships in pediatric psychology and child maltreatment/trauma This program is supported by Federal grants from the Department of Health and Human Services. Two postdoctoral positions are available, one in trauma and one in pediatric psychology (For information on the internship and postdoctoral programs, please contact Dr. Cathy Mavrolas at cmavrolas@larabida.org.
Pediatric Residents and medical students from the University of Chicago rotate through La Rabida where rounds and teaching seminars are focused on children with chronic disease (contact Dilek Bishku, M.D., dbishku@peds.bsd.uchicago.edu). Dr. Qamar offers a fourth year medical student elective on Pediatric Chronic Disease, which accepts students from other medical schools and provides exposure to the unique patient population at La Rabida Children’s Hospital.
Research
Research interests within this Section include the following topics:
- Children coping with chronic illnesses
- New-onset diabetes
- Deafness
- Dissociation in Children
- Diabetic Neuropathy
- Sickle Cell Neuropathy
- Enuresis
- Assessment and treatment of posttraumatic psychopathology in children
- Psychological care of pediatric burn patient
