Rethinking Youth Gender Medicine
Central London
We’re delighted to announce a conference on Rethinking Youth Gender Medicine: First Do No Harm jointly organised by the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender and the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine.
This conference will examine the history and origins of gender medical interventions; the wider social and cultural context; and the future of care for children and young adults experiencing gender related distress. We will critically examine evidence, current research and the ethical challenges that must be faced when providing safe, evidence-based care to this vulnerable group.
This conference brings together experienced clinicians, academics and researchers, alongside patient and parent voices. Sessions will examine the history and rapid global spread of the medical affirmation model; possible drivers of the rise in gender distress; and challenges in diagnosis, terminology, and research. We will also explore ethical tensions between autonomy and the duty to avoid harm, wider social influences—including rising youth mental health difficulties—and alternative psychotherapeutic approaches to supporting gender-distressed children and young people.
Programme
Day one | Aetiologies, evidence, research, and ethics
Registration from 8.30 am
9.30 am Welcoming speech: Baroness Dianne Hayter
Introduction: Dr Louise Irvine, co-chair CAN-SG
History and aetiologies
Chair: Dr Stella Kingett
- A brief history of gender medicine and the rise of the Dutch protocol (Zhenya Abbruzzese)
- How the availability of puberty suppression transformed the social, cultural, and medical landscape (Prof. Michael Biggs)
- Diagnoses in gender medicine (Prof. Alex Byrne)
Evidence, uncertainty, and risk
Chair: Dr Louise Irvine
- Diagnostic, aetiological and prognostic uncertainty in youth gender medicine (Dr. Alison Clayton)
- Puberty blockers and the adolescent brain (Prof. Sallie Baxendale)
- Breaking the Mold: How the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Decided to Put Evidence First (Scot Bradley Glasberg, M.D., former chair of American Plastic Surgery Association)
- Uncertainty and risk in gender treatments in adults: failings of the UK Levy review (Dr Louise Irvine)
Research
Chair: Prof. Alice Sullivan
- Barriers to research in gender medicine (Prof. Alice Sullivan)
- Pathways puberty blocker trial and why it does not comply with UK research regulations (Dr. Sinéad Helyar)
- Is there equipoise for interventional trials? (Dr. Ray Zhang)
- Adverse effects of hormonal interventions in gender medicine (Dr. Hannah Ryan)
Ethics
Chair: Zhenya Abbruzzese
- When evidence is uncertain, how do we decide? (Zhenya Abbruzzese)
- Evidence, Ethics, and Youth Gender Dysphoria (Prof. Moti Gorin)
- Parent perspective: decision-making on a child’s behalf when evidence is uncertain
Day two | Social and cultural contexts, clinical perspectives
Begins 9.30 am
Social and cultural influences
Chair: Dr David Pilgrim
- Social transition: what’s the harm? (Stephanie Davies-Arai)
- Beliefs about medical transition and the body in online trans spaces (Sarah Mittermaier)
- Detransition pathways: going back but moving forward (Michael Kerr)
Child and adolescent mental health
Chair: Dr Aileen O’Brien
- Psychotherapeutic work for embodied distress in adolescence (Anastassis Spiliadis)
- How can healthcare providers support young people questioning their gender identity, without fear? Recent research on psychiatrists and psychologists (Prof. Céline Masson)
Clinical perspectives
Chair: Dr David Bell
- Psychotherapeutic work with gender-distressed youth (Dr. Anna Hutchinson and Dr Celia Sadie)
- Helping parents manage their child’s new gender identity (Dr. Stephen Levine)
- Investigating the link between autism spectrum disorders and gender distress (Dr. Katie Alcock)
- The role of physiotherapy in managing the unwanted effects of gender interventions, with particular focus on pelvic health conditions (Elaine Miller)
Looking to the future panel discussion
Chair: Sue Evans
“How can we support children, families and young adults, going forward?” Panel discussion with Stephanie Davies-Arai, Dr. Anna Hutchinson, Dr Hannah Ryan, Dr. Stephen Levine, Michael Kerr and a parent.
Closing remarks: Dr Stella Kingett, co-chair, CAN-SG