About the Author

Frances E. Jensen, MD, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Jensen has researched brain development from the neonatal period through adulthood. She was Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Director of Translational Neuroscience and Director of Epilepsy Research at Boston Children's Hospital, and Senior Neurologist at Boston Children's and Brigham and Women's Hospitals. She lectures widely about the teen brain at science museums, TEDMED, and high schools.

Reviews

“Dr. Jensen uses her considerable expertise as a neuroscientist and a mother to explain the recent explosion of adolescent brain research and how this research can help us better understand and help young people. This book also highlights biologically inherent opportunities to enhance the health and well-being of young people during the second decade of life… opportunities we should not be missing.”— Carol A. Ford, M.D. President, Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine; Professor of Paediatrics, University of Pennsylvania; and Chief, Division of Adolescent Medicine at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia “Jensen has brilliantly translated academic science and clinical studies into easily understandable chapters to highlight the many changes in connections and plasticity of the brain. The book is a ‘must read’ for parents, teachers, school nurses, and many others who live with or interact with teens. Understanding the susceptibility of the brain to drugs and stressors is not presented as an excuse but rather as a new framework for readers to approach parenting or teaching with more science and more evidence-based, practical advice.” — S. Jean Emans, MD. Chief, Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital; Professor of Paediatrics, Harvard Medical School