We form a multi-disciplinary team of academic, clinical, service provider, and knowledge user partners. Our research team came together through years of working on other projects.

Some team members for the Trans Youth CAN! Project (Greta, Jake) worked together to create the community-based Trans PULSE Project (2006-2014), while other (Lorraine, Carys) contributed to Trans PULSE findings on effects of parental support for trans youth and access to emergency medicine.

In 2012, a SSHRC-Funded Meeting in Montreal brought together many researchers and community members for a National Workshop on Gender Creative Kids, which included Annie, Shuvo, Jake, Loralee, Lorraine, Carys, Margaret, and Joey. Also in 2012, Rainbow Health Ontario launched the Gender Independent Children Project, which was led by Jake and Loralee. This project built an Ontario-wide network of researchers, service providers, and families (including Lorraine, Carys, Margaret, and Joey). Holding a research planning meeting was a priority of the advisory committee.

In 2013 a CIHR-funded Planning Meeting in Toronto (attended by researchers, service providers, and families, including Loralee, Jake, Lorraine, Margaret, Cindy, Annie, Joey, Stephen, Carys, and Greta) was held and activities focused on developing a large-scale research study to identify the health impacts of social exclusion for trans children and youth. Information needs were identified and workgroups were established to explore possibilities for new research.

Many of the clinicians on the research team (Daniel, Bob, Danièle, Margaret, and Arati) have also collaborated together on pediatric studies as part of the Canadian Pediatric Endocrine Group, and one of the clinic leads on this study (Daniel) co-authored the first research characterizing the health of trans pediatric patients at a Canadian clinic. Other research team members (Greta, Jake, and Annie) have collaborated on the Research Committee of the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health.

Through our shared experiences of capacity-building and conducting research – along with multiple experiences of working together not highlighted here – we have built a coherent team with strong knowledge and expertise, and with established good, productive work dynamics and trust. We began working toward building a pan-Canadian study of trans youth in clinical care in 2014, and received funding in 2016 to start collecting data in 2017.