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Support for the transgender patient: What physicians need to know
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In an Endocrine Today video exclusive, Joshua D. Safer, MD, of the department of endocrinology, diabetes and nutrition at Boston University School of Medicine, encourages endocrinologists to stay informed about how to assist transgender patients who seek hormone therapy during medically assisted gender transition.
“We, as endocrinologists, are in a unique position with regard to transgender medicine to change the lives of numerous persons who have been discriminated against for many years simply due to ignorance,” Safer told Endocrine Today.
“Once we recognize that gender identity is a biological phenomenon, it’s quite straightforward, logically, to figure out what it is we need to be doing — and that’s using hormone therapy to get individuals to have the appearances that they want to have.”
In his presentation at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists 23rd Annual Scientific & Clinical Congress in Las Vegas, Nev., Safer advocated for changes in education for incoming endocrinologists so that professionals new to the field would be better prepared to treat transgender patients.
“Endocrinologists need to be leaders in the field, amongst our peers, the general public and insurance companies,” Safer said. Read the full article here.