Pediatrician for teen?
My rising 14 year old's pediatrician (since birth) recently retired, and we're not super into the doctor taking over their position. It's an odd age to be looking for a new primary doctor, but here we are. Does anyone have a great pediatrican who works well with teens? Typical stuff - hormones, growing, puberty, even neurodiversity - and creating a safe space to talk without parents in the room. Berkeley or Albany preferred. Thank you!
Oct 9, 2024
Parent Replies
We love Dr. Ted Handler at East Bay Pediatrics. My sons saw someone else in the practice who retired a few years ago, so they started with him as teens too. He's young and really nice and absolutely great at talking to teens.
My family loves Lisa Kalar at Berkeley Pediatrics, to the point that both of my kids (a son and a daughter) kept seeing her as long as they possibly could (meaning through college and into their early twenties). She is excellent at all the teen issues you mention, and particularly wonderful at creating that safe private space. My son has an especially challenging chronic disease profile and she has been an incredible advocate for him, helping us navigate the complicated world of specialists and diagnoses and sort through recommended treatments. I can't imagine having gone through his adolescence in particular without her care and guidance. It's been a few years, alas, since my kids finally (reluctantly!) aged out, but in our experience all the other doctors and nurses at the practice that we saw for various on-call situations were also excellent.
We have absolutely loved Dr. Juliana Damon at East Bay Pediatrics. They have a Berkeley office as well as an Orinda office. She is so warm and caring. I have 2 neurodivergent kids, one with gender issues and she handles them with such genuine care. If she could be my doctor I would have her be in a heartbeat! Best of luck to you.
We really like the UCSF Teen Clinic in Telegraph. They are thorough, respectful, very good at giving my daughter opportunities to talk to them alone but including me when appropriate or when she wants support. The appointments are long! We always see a resident first but then meet with Dr. Lela Bachrach. We make sure to ask that she’ll be present when we’re making appointments. She is very likeable and seems knowledgeable.
They have limited hours. The one time I called about a semi-urgent issue they couldn’t help. We went to Children’s hospital instead.
We had a bad experience at East Bay Pediatrics--our teen had a private conversation with a pediatrician there which included gender issues and then reported to us a long list of false statements about gender-affirming care and what it means if you have gender dysphoria (our child incorrectly believed that the only way to be happy if one had gender dysphoria was to have medical transition, that almost no one regretted medical intervention, that no one is trans temporarily, things like that!). We didn't go back.
If there is any gender issue involved, it would be good to see if the MD knows about the Cass Review, currently the most thorough summary of information about gender issues, especially what is known from the research (sadly, very little: https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p382 ). There is also a recent essay by Pamela Paul in the NYT (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/12/opinion/gender-affirming-care-cass-r… ) and an interview with the head of the Cass Review (Dr. Hilary Cass) in the NYT (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/health/hilary-cass-transgender-youth… ). Maybe East Bay Pediatrics knows now? There is also "Therapy First." A gender clinic is often where a pediatrician will refer a young person with gender distress or questioning, but they tend to offer medical solutions.
I second Lisa Kalar at Berkeley Pediatrics; our experience with her being as the on-call doctor. Our "real" doctor at Berkeley Pediatrics in Annemary Franks, who I recommend without reservation as a supportive and kind doctor. She always listened through a difficult and hard to figure out chronic illness as well as neurodiversity. Also she is great with out other child who is not neurodiverse. She's the best, but Dr. Kalar was great the handful of times we saw her.
Fyi Dr Lisa Kalar at Berkeley Peds has retired — saw another post suggesting her, and she is in fact fantastic but not longer available. My kid (13) has see her replacement Dr Mellin a few times and likes her fwiw.