Lia Jo DeStefano

Lia Jo DeStefano is the Clinical Program Manager of the Adolescent Specialized Treatment and Recovery Team in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where she supports substance use disorder treatment services for youth. In this role, DeStefano has helped to build the Delaware Valley's first comprehensive adolescent substance use treatment continuum. As the CHOP interdepartmental substance use disorder liaison, DeStefano spearheads the integration of substance use disorder services across Adolescent Medicine and Psychiatry, supporting a high-quality, evidence-based, and seamlessly coordinated continuum of care. The goal of her work is to address the dearth of resources available to the one in four teens in CHOP’s primary care network screening positive for problematic substance use as well as other struggling youth in the community.

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is a renowned pediatric healthcare system encompassing two hospital campuses as well as an extensive network of pediatric primary and specialty care practices in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. CHOP’s Craig-Dalsimer Division of Adolescent Medicine represents one of the largest adolescent medicine practices in the world, as well as the only dedicated adolescent inpatient service in the tri-state region. Housed within this division, the Adolescent Specialized Treatment and Recovery Team (A-START) is a breakthrough interdisciplinary team focused on a strengths‐based, family‐centered approach to substance use disorder care for youth. A-START constitutes the first of its kind in Delaware Valley, with multiple board-certified pediatric addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry specialists spread across two departments and the most comprehensive pediatric substance withdrawal clinical pathway in the U.S.