Camilia Kamoun, MD, MSME, pediatric endocrinologist and faculty member in the UNC Department of Pediatrics, has received a prestigious NIH K23 Career Development Award to support her research on patient-informed clinical care for early female puberty.
The K23 award will support Dr. Kamoun’s project, “Gathering Evidence for Patient-Informed Clinical Care of Early Female Puberty,” which addresses critical gaps in understanding the psychosocial and mental health needs of patients who experience early puberty. Her work centers patient perspectives to inform more comprehensive, evidence-based clinical care practices.
Dr. Kamoun’s interest in this work emerged during her pediatric endocrinology training, where she noted a lack of evidence-based guidance for addressing the psychosocial needs of patients with early female puberty. Findings from her study Experiences of Early Female Puberty support her hypothesis that psychosocial health has received insufficient attention in this population. Her background in medical ethics uniquely positions her to engage with the sensitive ethical considerations inherent in this research, including issues such as sexual harassment, body discomfort, and menstrual stigma.
More broadly, Dr. Kamoun’s research contributes to advancing women’s health across the lifespan, as puberty is increasingly recognized as a critical developmental period with long-term health implications. Long term, she aims to become a national expert in psychosocial research for pediatric patients with endocrine conditions, leveraging bioethical inquiry to promote equitable, patient-centered care. Her work also explores how societal norms and beliefs can influence clinical practice and contribute to gaps in care—insights that may be adapted across diverse areas of pediatric research and clinical care.
Dr. Kamoun is a faculty member in the UNC Department of Pediatrics and provides clinical care through UNC Children’s.