The Center for Human Appearance (CHA) at Penn Medicine will be hosting its first Symposium on Transgender Health on December 1, 2018.
Transgender Health Symposium Agenda
Today's healthcare system must address transgender issues from the perspectives of physical health and mental health," explained Ardis Ryder, an administrator at Penn's Center for Human Appearance.
Located at the Smilow Center for Translational Research in Philadelphia, the Symposium for Transgender Health: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach, will feature leading experts presenting on a number of topics at the heart of transgender health and well-being, including:
- family dynamics;
- identity, reproductive and sexual health;
- voice procedures;
- dermatology;
- hormonal therapy;
- medical insurance and policy;
- pediatric and adolescence in gender and identity;
- plastic and reconstructive surgery; and
- building a transgender program in academic medicine.
Penn physicians, both medical and surgical, will present at the daylong event, with opening remarks from CHA founder and Director, Linton Whitaker, MD (professor and chief emeritus of Plastic Surgery) and Joseph M. Serletti, MD, FACS (Chief, Division of Plastic Surgery). The keynote, "How to Build a Transgender Program in Academic Medicine" will be delivered by guest speaker, William M. Kuzon, Jr, MD, plastic surgeon and Director of Surgical Services for the University of Michigan's Comprehensive Gender Services Program.
"Transgender health epitomizes multidisciplinary cooperation," explained Phuong D. Nguyen, MD. "We're hoping representatives from the many disciplines involved in transgender patient care will attend — as well as the family members, friends and non-healthcare professionals that are part of their community."
A plastic surgeon whose specialties include gender confirmation surgery, Dr. Nguyen is a co-director of the symposium.
"It's important that the transgender community find a place where they can benefit from the support of people who understand these challenges," Dr. Nguyen continued. "This Symposium is that place, and will be the first, I hope, of many in the years ahead."
Penn's Center for Human Appearance
The Center for Human Appearance is a unique entity: Founded in 1987, CHA was the first--and remains today as the most--comprehensive, academically-based center dedicated exclusively to the research and education of appearance-related issues and quality of life.
The CHA clinical team is comprised of plastic surgeons, otorhinolaryngologists, dermatologists, oculoplastic surgeons, oral & maxillofacial surgeons, and psychologists that collaborate to address both the physical and psychological aspects of appearance for their adults and children patients. Their patient treatment can include eradication of disease, reconstruction of deformities, and/ or cosmetic changes of the face, body and extremities.
Additional Transgender Health Resources from Penn