Led by Leslie Jaffe, M.D., Director of Health Services, Smith College, and Kerry Homstead, Ed.D., Director of Social Services for the YWCA of Western Massachusetts.

Adolescent girls today face an increasing array of health-related challenges in their daily lives. With a major grant from the Metropolitan Life Foundation and the support of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Smith College and the YWCA are writing a comprehensive adolescent girls' health manual to help girls build the awareness and skills they need to negotiate the challenges they face. Students in this course will research topics and help to write about issues relating to their healthy futures. We will investigate topics such as menstrual cycle, healthy eating, violence, cardiovascular health, alcohol and other drugs, reproductive health including sexuality, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases, breast cancer and stress. These topics will be considered within the contexts of current research in biology and medicine, and today's multi-cultural society. We will join in discussions with health professionals both on campus and on field trips to major medical centers in Springfield, MA and New York City.