The Impact of Substance Use on the Developing Adolescent Brain

This free webinar will review developmental neurobiology and the impact of psychoactive substances in general on brain development. We will then discuss the particular impacts of alcohol, THC, and nicotine on the brain and their specific impacts on brain development.

Presented by Sharon Levy, MD, MPH, a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician, Addiction Medicine specialist and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Levy is also the Director of the Adolescent Substance Use and Addiction Program at Boston Children's Hospital, the past chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Substance Use and Prevention, the immediate past-President of the Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction (AMERSA) and she serves on the board of directors of the Addiction Medicine Fellowship Director’s Association. Over the past 20 years she has evaluated and treated thousands of adolescents with substance use disorders, and she has written extensively on the topic. In 2016 she established the nation’s first accredited Pediatric Addiction Medicine Fellowship training program at Boston Children’s Hospital. She has conducted research to develop and test tools for identifying and addressing adolescent substance use disorders in general medical settings, and she has expertise in the integration of substance use treatment services into pediatric primary care.