Chairs

Chair:
Jennifer Rehm

Co-Chairs:

Kara Connelly, MD
Toni Eimicke, NP

Stephanie Roberts, MD

Secretary:
Janet Lee, MD

BOD Liaison

Erica A. Eugster

The Pediatric Endocrine Society Opposes Bills that Harm Transgender Youth

Bills that threaten the health of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth have been introduced in multiple state legislatures across the United States. These bills undermine medical recommendations and seek to criminalize health care professionals who provide gender-affirming care such as puberty suppressing medications and gender-affirming hormone therapy. Read full position statement here.

Mission Statement

The PES Transgender Health SIG is dedicated to providing safe, comprehensive and evidence based medical care to transgender and gender nonconforming youth. We recognize the current gaps in knowledge and evidence and aim to address these gaps with research initiatives. We aim to guide changes to the treatment guidelines for transgender individuals using our collective experience and current and future research data.

To meet our goals, we recognize we must align with other specialists including mental health professionals and adolescent medicine providers.

Goals and Objectives

  • Standardize consent forms, appeal letters and other documents commonly required during transition process and make those available for common use.
  • Clarify and update medical management guidelines to reflect current practice.
  • Research
    • Create a database of gender programs and providers to facilitate networking and
      information/resource sharing.
    • Develop a Transgender Youth registry to set the basis for outcomes research.
  • Education
    • Establish standardized mental health assessment of gender non-conforming youth and develop training programs to implement the use of these standards.
    • Educate other pediatric endocrinologists and other health care providers caring for transgender youth to ensure safe and appropriate treatment.
    • Educate pediatricians and other primary care providers on the needs of transgender and gender non-conforming youth, and their role in their care.
    • Establish and maintain an online library of relevant publications.
    • Develop curriculum for pediatric residents and pediatric endocrine fellows surrounding management of gender non-conforming youth.
  • Advocacy
    • Influence public policy and advocacy in conjunction with the PES policy group.
    • Help to achieve better health care access for patients by informing policy, such as promoting Medicaid and Medicare to cover transgender treatment in all states.
    • Work to obtain universal health care coverage for this group of patients.

 

Next Steps (2-3 Year Plan):

  1. Form smaller groups to address specific goals (educational information for families, Management guidelines, Diagnostic guidelines, etc ).
  2. Determine membership criteria for this SIG- e.g. Child Psychiatry, Adolescent Medicine.
  3. Schedule Face to Face meetings and regular teleconferences