2027 National School-Based Health Care Conference Call for Abstracts and Reviewers
Abstract submissions will be accepted October 5 – November 16, 2026.
The 2027 Annual Conference takes place in Washington, DC, from Tuesday, June 22, to Thursday, June 24.
The 2027 National School-Based Health Care Conference brings together health care and education professionals, young people, and advocates from across the country to learn from one another and strengthen their work. This year’s theme, “Students at the Center: From Insight to Impact,” focuses on putting students at the center of how we understand needs, make decisions, strengthen school-based health care, and improve health.
Nearly 4,000 school-based health centers (SBHCs) nationwide provide children and adolescents with physical and behavioral health care, screenings, and preventive services in a familiar, convenient setting. Throughout the conference, attendees will hear how SBHCs in rural, urban, and suburban communities are responding to local needs, strengthening partnerships, and improving care to help children and adolescents be healthy and ready to learn.
This year, we are accepting abstracts in Spanish for all categories except the youth training program.
More information
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- Preventive Care and Clinical Services (primary care, behavioral health, specialty services)
- Business Operations, Sustainability, and Quality Improvement
- Policy & Partnerships
- Innovations
- ‘Be the Change’ Youth Training Program (for youth participants only)
| Session Type | Time Frame | Maximum Number of Presenters |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-conference (Tuesday, June 22) | 2–4 hours | three, plus one moderator |
| Workshop | 75 minutes | two, no moderator |
| Panel | 75 minutes | three, plus one moderator |
| Poster | 60 minutes (in-person presentation during poster session) | one |
Through conference participation, we hope attendees will have opportunities to:
- Develop clinical, diagnostic, and health education skills to prevent and treat common physical and mental health conditions seen in SBHCs.
- Identify strategies to address social factors that affect the health of children and adolescents.
- Increase knowledge of SBHC and other school-based health care administration (e.g., services and modalities such as oral health, vision care, telehealth, and mobile health) with an emphasis on financial stability, school and community services integration, workforce enhancement, emerging practices, and continuous quality improvement.
- Expand knowledge of school-based health care-related research and evaluation.
- Deepen knowledge of innovative prevention and early intervention strategies to change risk-taking behaviors, emphasizing anticipatory guidance, health promotion, and health education.
- Bolster knowledge of ways to increase family and community involvement in SBHC efforts.
- Explore issues related to advocacy, policy, and coalition building.
- Share ideas and best and emerging practices and network with colleagues.
- School-based health care administrators/managers
- Education professionals, such as superintendents, principals, school social workers, school psychologists, school safety professionals, and community school staff members
- Youth and youth leaders
- Funders and sponsor organizations
- School-based health care oversight agencies, including departments of health and education
- Researchers and evaluators
- Advocates, supporters, and policymakers
Help shape the conference this year by applying to be an abstract reviewer. Reviewers help evaluate abstract submissions using a scoring rubric and provide thoughtful feedback to help build an engaging, relevant conference. Your perspective can help identify sessions that offer practical tools, highlight youth voices, and support the work of conference attendees. The School-Based Health Alliance team will review applications and contact selected reviewers with the next steps. Abstract review will occur from January 4 – 15, 2027. All categories accept reviewer applications (note: reviewers for ‘Be the Change’ must be youth).