Principal Investigators
Greta Bauer, PhD, MPH
Professor, Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Western University, and CIHR Sex and Gender Science Chair
Dr. Greta Bauer is the Principal Investigator on the Trans Youth CAN! project. Dr. Bauer is a leader in health research focusing on LGBT communities, and study methodologies for hidden or marginalized populations. For over 20 years she has conducted research in LGBT health, and has led several long-terms projects. These included the Trans PULSE survey, where she wrote the first published research on trans patient access to primary and emergency care, and did significant work in identifying intervenable factors for suicide prevention. Her work has contributed to significant advances in human rights policy in Canada, as well as advances in research on LGBT health.
Margaret Lawson, MD, FRCPC
Professor, Pediatrics, University of Ottawa
and
Pediatric Endocrinologist, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)
Dr. Margaret Lawson is the Co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Greta Bauer, and the Clinical Lead for Trans Youth CAN! She is a pediatric endocrinologist at CHEO, Senior Scientist at the CHEO Research Institute, and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Ottawa. Margaret began working with Greta Bauer and other members of our study group in 2014 to develop a research study to answer questions that are important to trans youth, their family members, and health professionals. They were thrilled to receive funding from CIHR in 2016 for Trans Youth CAN! Margaret has provided hormone therapy and gender affirming care and support to trans youth since 2006, forming CHEO’s Diversity Clinic in 2011 with Dr. Steve Feder. Together with their team, they have witnessed first-hand the growth in this population, and the strength the youth and their families provide to each other. As a parent to two teenagers, Margaret knows the teenage years are challenging for all but can be especially so for trans youth. She is very excited to be helping to move this study forward and is really grateful to all the youth and families who have contributed to the development of Trans Youth CAN!
Co-investigators
Bob Couch, MD, FRCPC
Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta
Dr. Bob Couch is a co-investigator on Trans Youth CAN! He retired from Pediatric Endocrinology at the the Stollery Children’s Hospital in December 2017 but has remained as the Edmonton principal investigator for Trans Youth CAN! Prior to 2008 the number of transgender youth referred for consideration of hormonal therapy was few and they were seen in the general endocrinology clinic. However with increasing referrals it became evident to him that this population would be better served in a dedicated clinic with consistent personnel. He therefore requested the creation of a transgender clinic which was opened in 2009. Since then he has continued to advocate for increased resources to meet the health care needs of the community. He has established liaison with Dr. Kris Wells and the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Supports (ISMSS) in the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta. He has participated in the Inclusive Health Conference which addresses health care issues in the LGBTQ population and written opinion pieces addressing misinformation and prejudices regarding health care for trans and gender questioning youth. Without a doubt involvement in the clinical care of trans youth has been one of the most rewarding experiences of his professional life and he has learned a great deal from the youth and their families.
Jennifer Ducharme, PhD, CPsych
GDAAY Clinic, Health Science Centre, Winnipeg
and
Assistant Professor, University of Manitoba
Dr. Jen Ducharme is a Clinical Psychologist in the Child and Adolescent Consult Service at the Health Sciences Centre and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Health Psychology, Max Rady College of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba. She specializes in working clinically with children, adolescents, and their families. Together with her colleagues in Pediatric Endocrinology and Child Psychiatry, in 2011, they developed the GDAAY (Gender Dysphoria Assessment and Action for Youth) clinic, based at The Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. GDAAY provides comprehensive care including assessment, diagnosis, and treatment to transgender youth. She is the consulting psychologist for the GDAAY clinic, and am also the Principal Investigator for the Winnipeg site for the Trans Youth CAN! Study. She is a member of CPATH (Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health) and of Winnipeg’s Trans Health Coalition. Together with my GDAAY colleagues, we have provided consultation and input to Vital Stats Manitoba, to streamline the process of changing gender markers on provincial ID, and to the Government of Manitoba Family Services, to inform policy and best practices in working with youth under CFS care. As a representative of GDAAY, in September 2013, she was invited to attend a two-day planning meeting, entitled “Identifying the health and mental health impacts of social exclusion for gender non-conforming children” hosted by Rainbow Health Ontario, which brought together service providers, researchers, and consumers from across the country. It was through this planning meeting that she met and began to form collaborative partnerships with others who make up the Trans Youth CAN! Team. She is thrilled to be part of this project, to continue to strengthen her partnerships with members of this team, and to be part of work that she genuinely feel will be beneficial to trans youth and their families.
Stephen Feder, MDCM, MPH, CCFP
Adolescent Medicine Specialist, CHEO
Dr. Steve Feder is very excited to participate in this project. It is an opportunity for providers across Canada, the Trans Youth CAN! Team, who share a dedication to optimizing the lives of trans people, to learn from the study participants as well as from each other. Through this collaboration we will generate a Canadian consensus for how best to support trans youth and their families. Dr. Feder is an Adolescent Medicine specialist and has worked at the Children’s Hospital of Ontario since 1991. It was only in 2011 however that the gap in not providing services for trans children and youth was identified. Since then, and in response to substantial demand, we have established a multidisciplinary clinic wherein Dr. Feder is the Co-Director and to which he will devote 50% of his clinical time. A wide range of clinical services is offered. We try desperately to allow the youth’s needs and realities drive the process through a collaborative rather than a hierarchical relationship. We feel privileged to play a role in creating a more knowledgeable and more inclusive society through the clinical work, our advocacy initiatives and through client-centred research. Dr. Feder was fortunate enough to be invited to participate as co-investigator on a study that will allow the research team to learn from the participants who have kindly permitted us to live part of the gender journey with them. This new learning will help us to increase awareness, boost the priority for effective teaching for trainees in a variety of professional disciplines and create a state-of-the-art standard of care across Canada.
Shuvo Ghosh, MD, FAAP
Pediatrician, Montreal Children’s Hospital
and
Centre Meraki, McGill University Health Centre
Dr. Shuvo Ghosh is one of the two Co-Directors of the Meraki Health Centre and the head of the Montréal Pediatric Gender Variance Program based at Meraki and at McGill University. He completed the majority of his education in the USA before arriving in Canada to do his fellowship in Developmental-Behavioural Pediatrics at McGill University/Montréal Children’s Hospital. After an undergraduate degree in Biology and Hispanic/Italian Linguistic Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, he obtained his medical degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical School, followed by residency in Pediatrics at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He also spent time during his residency in specialty elective training at the Kapi’olani Women’s and Children’s Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawai’i. Overlapping these studies and spanning several years, Dr. Ghosh also participated in research and volunteer work in cognitive neuroscience and dolphin husbandry at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa’s former Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory. In addition to his clinical work at the Meraki Health Centre, Dr. Ghosh has an academic faculty position as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the MUHC/Montréal Children’s Hospital where he works in the Child Development Program, and he also has working privileges at Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre in Kahnawake First Nation.
Natasha Johnson, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University
Dr. Natasha Johnson is a Pediatrician and Adolescent Medicine Specialist at McMaster University where she is an Associate Professor and Division Head of Adolescent Medicine as well as the medical co-director of their Eating Disorder Program. Since joining McMaster over a decade ago, Dr. Johnson has developed a clinical, educational, and research focus in the area of adolescent sexual health – in particular in marginalized youth and vulnerable populations. In 2016, she enlisted the help and support of colleagues working at McMaster Children’s Hospital to create a clinical service for gender diverse children and youth. She is grateful to colleagues from Ontario and across the country who have been doing this important work for years and who were extremely supportive about this initiative and answered many of her questions along the way. She is excited to join a community of people who are working to improve the health of trans and gender-diverse children and youth in Canada as part of the Trans Youth CAN! Study. She is grateful every day to the youth and their families who openly share their stories and demonstrate daily the meaning of resilience.
Daniel Metzger, MD
Pediatric Endocrinologist, BC Children’s Hospital
and
Clinical Professor, Division of Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia
Dr. Dan Metzger is a Pediatric Endocrinologist at BC Children’s Hospital and a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia. He has been seeing transgender and gender-questioning children and youth since 1998. He is a member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Heath (WPATH) and its Canadian counterpart, CPATH. He has been an invited speaker for numerous professional (pediatricians, mental-health professionals, adult and pediatric endocrinologists, nurses, social workers, clinical ethicists) and lay audiences (patient and family support groups and conferences, as well as for the lay media). He has also advised and assisted a number of pediatric endocrinology centres in Canada and the Pacific Northwest in the organizing of their endocrine clinics to begin to see and support trans youth. He has supervised subspecialty training for three pediatric endocrinology fellows (two Canadian, one Australian) in the endocrine management of trans youth. He was part of a group that published the first Canadian (and second North American) retrospective, peer-reviewed report of our clinical experience treating the first 84 patients seen in our clinic from 1998–2011. He was also a co-investigator in the Canadian Trans Youth Health Survey Research Group, which produced the 2015 report Being Safe, Being Me: Results of the Canadian Trans Youth Health Survey. Provincially, he is a member of the BC Transgender Clinical Care Group, the overarching network of clinical, legal and community-services professionals from the public and private sectors, who share knowledge and expertise in the clinical care of trans people in BC. He was invited to sit on the Provincial Health Services Authority’s Transgender/Trans* Health Steering Committee, which was tasked by the Ministry of Health to develop a model for a provincial network of individual and family-centric health-care services for transgender/trans* British Columbians.
Arati Mokashi, MD, FRCPC
Pediatric Endocrinologist, IWK Health Centre
Dr. Arati Mokashi is a pediatric endocrinologist at the IWK Health Centre/Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia for the past 14 years. She was invited to collaborate on the Trans Youth CAN team by Dr. Lawson. She was inspired by Dr. Dan Metzger to bring a clinic dedicated to providing trans youth medical transition to Nova Scotia in 2012 and the IWK Trans Health Endocrine Clinic has grown since then. She has spoken at the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health in 2015 and has been invited locally to speak to the NS Trans Advisory Group and Youth Project. On a personal note, she is mother of 2 young boys who she strives to raise to become inclusive of people regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, social status.
Danièle Pacaud, MD FRCPC
Professor, Pediatric Endocrinology, University of Calgary
and
Pediatric Endocrinologist, Alberta Children’s Hospital
Dr. Daniele Pacaud is a Pediatric endocrinologist and Professor of Paediatrics at the Alberta Children’s Hospital and University of Calgary. She is the local principal investigator in Calgary for the Trans Youth CAN! study. By sharing their local experience with other Canadian colleagues, they came in contact with the core group of researchers who started the Trans Youth CAN! study, and she has been collaborating with this team since the beginning of the project. As a clinician who has encountered an increasing number of youth dealing with gender issues and seeking hormone therapy over the last decade, she was an initiator of a structured clinic for these youth at AHS in Calgary. The Alberta Children’s Hospital Metta Clinic started seeing transgender and gender-questioning children and youth in 2014. This clinic brings together a group of dynamic and engaged clinicians from Mental Health, Adolescent Medicine and Pediatric Endocrinology and includes physicians, nurses, family therapists and a social worker. Together with families and community resources, they are working to further develop the services available for families. They believe that increasing knowledge and awareness on children and youth with non-conforming gender identity and how to best support them is important. We are proud and excited to be part of this pan-Canadian study.
Mark Palmert, MD, PhD
Division Head, Endocrinology, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
Dr. Mark Palmert is a Professor of Pediatrics and Physiology at the University of Toronto. Mark graduated from the Medical Scientist Training Program at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, with a MD and PhD in 1992 and then completed his pediatrics and pediatric endocrinology training at Children’s Hospital, Boston. After training, Mark held faculty appointments in Boston and at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland before he moved to Toronto in 2007 to become Head of the Division of Endocrinology at SickKids. In 2017 Mark began a new role at SickKids as Associate Chair of Pediatrics (Ambulatory Care). Mark has a long-standing clinical and research interest in the regulation and disorders of pubertal timing. From a research perspective, he has conducted clinical studies of precocious and delayed puberty and has directed a laboratory-based program designed to identify and understand genetic factors that regulate the onset of puberty. His interest in the regulation of pubertal timing and in male-female differences in its onset led to the expansion of his laboratory-based program to include investigation of the bases of sex differences in the brain, including examination of the effects of sex steroids and sex chromosomes on brain structure and function. In the clinical realm, Dr. Palmert has focused on the care of children with general endocrine disorders and diabetes mellitus but with a particular interest in reproductive endocrinology, including disorders of pubertal development and the care of transgender youth. In 2013, he co-founded the multi-disciplinary Transgender Youth Clinic at SickKids along with colleagues in Adolescent Medicine. Over the past 5 years, this clinic has cared for approximately 800 youth.
Annie Pullen-Sansfaçon, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Social Work, University of Montreal
Dr. Annie Pullen-Sansfaçon is a Full Professor of Social Work at the University of Montreal. She joined the Trans Youth CAN! team in 2016, but she met most team members in 2013 when she participated in research meeting in Toronto to determine future directions in research to improve the lives of trans youth. Since 2010, she has focused much of her research time on various projects aimed at better understanding the experience of trans youth and their families. She has published several book chapters and articles on the experience of trans youth and their families, as well as on trans-affirming practices, stressing the importance of social changes in order to ensure trans youth well-being. She is the co-author of the book “Supporting Trans and Gender Creative Youth: Schools, Families, and Communities in Action” (Peter Lang, 2014 and revised edition in 2018) and is one of the co-founders of Gender Creative Kids Canada, a Montreal-based community organization working with trans children and youth and their families. She is also a research at the Research Institute for Public Health of the University of Montreal, and an Associate Researcher at the School of Social Work of the University of Stellenbosh, in South Africa.
Joe Raiche, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary
Dr. Joe Raiche is a psychiatrist and clinical assistant professor at the University of Calgary. Since his involvement in the creation of two specialized gender clinics in 2014, he continues to work with both the adult and youth trans populations at Foothills Medical Centre and Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, AB. His main clinical focus is providing care for trans and gender non-conforming individuals who require support during their social and medical transition, and for those interested, connection with hormones and gender-affirming surgeries. His clinical work also extends to educating medical students, residents, and practicing physicians on improving access and quality of care for trans patients. This has resulted in significant curriculum changes at the Cumming School of Medicine and collaborating on national CME projects aimed at family physicians. His advocacy also manifests at a community level by devoting time to participate in LGBTQ-affirming radio programing, documentaries, and local events/charities.
Elizabeth Saewyc, PhD, RN, FSAHM, FCAHS, FAAN
Professor, School of Nursing & Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine
and
Executive Director, Stigma and Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Centre, University of British Columbia School of Nursing
Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc is a professor in the UBC School of Nursing, and Director of the Stigma and Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Centre (SARAVYC), in Vancouver, BC. She has spent over 20 years conducting research about and with many different groups of youth, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Two Spirit, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, and is recognized internationally as a leader in this area of research. Her research shows how stigma, violence, and trauma negatively affect adolescent health, and how protective factors such as family support foster resilience and have positive impacts on their health and wellness. Sharing research with youth, the public, and government leaders is an important aspect of her research, which has influenced health services and policy in Canada, the US, and internationally. Several provinces have used the results from her research on how schools can improve well-being among LGBTQ youth, to support policies and Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) in schools, as well as in enacting safe school laws. She also led SARAVYC in conducting the first Canadian national health survey of transgender youth in 2014. Findings are cited in Alberta’s safe school guidelines, in clinical service reviews in Ontario and BC, and in human rights and family court cases, setting national precedents. In BC, they also helped lead to decisions to add gender identity protections to the Human Rights Code and school policies. She is on the Board of the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health (CPATH), and a member of the communications and advocacy committees.
Kathy Speechley, PhD
Professor, Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Paediatrics, Western University
Dr. Kathy Nixon Speechley is a Professor in the Departments of Paediatrics and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, a Scientist and Division Chair at Children’s Health Research Institute, and an Assistant Director at Lawson Health Research Institute. As an epidemiologist, she has many years of experience conducting health research with children and families across Canada. She has successfully partnered with hundreds of families of children and youth living with several health conditions, engaging them in long-term follow-up studies to assess key determinants of health including a 10-year follow-up of children with epilepsy and their parents aimed at optimizing their quality of life.
Robert Stein, MDCM, FRCPC
Division Head, Pediatric Endocrinology, LHSC Children’s Hospital
and
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University
Dr. Robert Stein is the Division Head of Pediatric Endocrinology at Children’s Hospital in London, Ontario and an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Schulich School of Medicine. He has been working in London for the past 15 years, and has been involved in the Transgender Health Clinic at Children’s Hospital for 2 years. He provided a workshop on the medical management of transgender children and adolescents at the 2018 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry annual conference at the Schulich School of Medicine. Dr. Stein also serves as the Assistant Dean, Learner Equity & Wellness at the Schulich School of Medicine. Dr. Stein is excited to join the Trans Youth CAN! study, and is excited to collaborate with and learn from colleagues from across the country.
Francoise Susset, PsyD
Clinical Psychologist and Couple & Family Therapist
Dr. Françoise Susset is a clinical psychologist, a couple and family therapist, a trainer and a clinical supervisor. Her work centers on helping people heal from trauma. She has been involved in LGBTQI+ health for over 25 years focusing on the needs of trans adults and teens, during transition and beyond. She also focuses on supporting gender creative children and helping families and schools challenge notions regarding sexuality, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Françoise is a member of WPATH and is past president of the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health (CPATH).
Julie Temple-Newhook, PhD
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Dr. Julie Temple-Newhook is an Adjunct Professor of Gender Studies at Memorial University, and co-chair of the Child, Youth, and Family Committee of the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health. She founded and co-facilitates the national and local peer support groups, Canadian Parents of Trans & Gender Diverse Kids / Parents canadiens d’enfants trans, and Parents of Trans & Gender Diverse Kids – Newfoundland & Labrador. She also helped to found the Trans Youth Group, a support group for trans youth aged 12-18 years in St. John’s, and partnered with Echo Pond Summer Camp to offer Camp Rainbow, the first summer camp in NL for trans and gender diverse children aged 7-15 years. She is a member of the Trans Needs Committee at Memorial, the Trans Health Committee of Eastern Health, and the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health.
John VanderMeulen, MD
Division Head, Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University
Dr. John VanderMeulen is a professor of pediatrics at McMaster University and head of the division of pediatric endocrinology at McMaster Children’s Hospital. In his 30 years as an endocrinologist his interests have ranged from basic cell biology to type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes in First Nations children and most aspects of general endocrinology. The latter has included extensive experience in the hormonal management of patients with delayed, absent or precocious sexual development. This experience provides a valuable framework that helps guide the hormonal management of trans and gender-diverse children and youth in our clinic. That being said, it is clear that these children have their own, unique requirements in terms of hormonal management. More needs to be understood as we seek to provide best care. The Trans Youth CAN! study represents an important opportunity to learn from colleagues nationally and to work with a community who share the common goal of improved health outcomes for our patients.
Ashley Vandermorris, BS, MD, FRCPC
Staff Physician, Adolescent Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
Dr. Ashley Vandermorris is a Staff Physician in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at SickKids Hospital and Lecturer at the University of Toronto. She completed her undergraduate degree at Yale University, her medical degree at Harvard Medical School, and a Pediatrics residency and Adolescent Medicine fellowship both at SickKids. Her clinical passion is working with youth in diverse circumstances to support them in achieving healthy developmental trajectories. As an Adolescent Medicine physician, she is committed to championing the ideals of accessibility, advocacy, equity, justice and collaboration as the fundamental tenets that will enable improved health outcomes for youth. Dr. Vandermorris’ research interests focus on comprehensive, collaborative, and integrated approaches to transforming health systems to promote better outcomes for youth, in both the local and global context. She has previously worked in India, South Africa, and Nunavut and, in addition to her work in Canada, is currently engaged in research projects in Senegal, India, and Malawi.
Collaborators
Lorraine Gale, MSW
Out and Proud Program, Children’s Aid Society of Toronto
Lorraine Gale coordinates the Out and Proud Program at the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto. She promotes systemic change within the child welfare system to ensure services for gender and sexually diverse children, youth or families are positive, inclusive and equitable. She developed CAS-Toronto’s Out and Proud Affirmation Guidelines: Practice Guidelines for Equity in Gender and Sexual Diversity, including the “Expanding the Circle” framework, intended for social service sectors serving children, youth and/or families. Lorraine currently advises the Ministry of Children and Youth Services on the development of a gender and sexual diversity guide for child welfare agencies; and leads a multi-agency project to develop a child welfare agency LGBTQ self-assessment tool. In her role, Lorraine also develops policies and resources about gender and sexual diversity; provides related education and public speaking; consults and advocates; and coordinates PRIDE celebrations. She is committed to “expanding the circle” so that all young people can be free to explore and celebrate who they are in affirming environments.
Simon Trepel, MD
Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
and
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba
Project Coordinator
Sandra Gotovac, PhD
Project Coordinator, Trans Youth CAN! Study, Western University
Dr. Sandra Gotovac is the Project Coordinator for the Trans Youth CAN! Study. She started on the project in January of 2017, and is thrilled to be working with such a great team on such an important project. She completed her PhD in Applied Social Psychology in January of 2017, where she did work in the areas of intersectional feminism, campus sexual assault, weight stigma and healthcare, and medical education in child/adolescent mental health. She has always had a passion for social justice work focusing on gender, feminism, and intersectionality, and she loves doing applied research work and working with diverse teams. As an ally to the LGBTQ community, she is excited to move this project forward and contribute to improving the care and support given to trans youth and their families.
