Allison receives K23 Award to advance contraceptive counseling research for adolescents

The UNC Department of Pediatrics is proud to celebrate Bianca Allison, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, who has received an NIH K23 Career Development Award to support her project, “Evaluation of a Clinic-Based Program to Improve Adolescent Contraceptive Counseling and Care Delivery.”

Allison earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, her medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School, and a Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She completed both her pediatric residency and health services research fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she now serves as a faculty member and clinician caring for children, adolescents, and young adults through UNC Children’s.

The NIH K23 award supports early-career physician-scientists as they build independent research programs through advanced training, mentorship, and protected time for patient-oriented research. Allison’s project focuses on strengthening contraceptive counseling in primary care settings so that young people receive developmentally appropriate reproductive health services that reflect their needs, preferences, and goals.

Improving Contraceptive Counseling for Adolescents

Adolescents often encounter barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services and may not consistently receive counseling that aligns with their individual circumstances. Through her K23-supported research, Allison will evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the ACCESS program, a clinic-based intervention designed to enhance contraceptive counseling and related care in primary care settings.

This work will examine how evidence-based approaches can be integrated into routine clinical practice to promote reproductive autonomy and informed decision-making among adolescents. The study will assess implementation outcomes and preliminary effectiveness while generating insights that may help shape future reproductive health programs for young people.

Building a Research Program in Adolescent Health

"Adolescents deserve health care that is responsive to their needs, values, and goals. This award provides an opportunity to develop and evaluate strategies that help clinicians deliver high-quality contraceptive care."

Allison is a teen-focused primary care pediatrician and health services researcher whose work seeks to advance equitable, developmentally tailored sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents and young adults. Through the UNC Adolescent Research Lab, she examines ways to engage clinicians in delivering high-quality reproductive health care and to implement scalable interventions that expand access to those services.

Her research also explores provider bias in contraceptive counseling and how adolescents seek information and make decisions about contraception in a rapidly changing sociopolitical environment. Ultimately, her work aims to strengthen reproductive health outcomes by increasing access to high-quality, developmentally appropriate care.

Congratulations!

Originally posted at med.unc.edu.