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Considerations in the care of transgender persons

Nature Reviews Nephrology volume 19, pages 360–365 (2023)Cite this article

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Transgender persons can face a number of barriers in accessing primary and specialist care that is equitable, inclusive and appropriate for their needs. In this Viewpoint, commissioned to recognize Pride, five researchers with expertise across different disciplines, including nephrology, endocrinology, public health, psychology and sociology, provide their perspectives on key considerations that are required to achieve optimal primary and nephrology care for transgender individuals, including barriers to care and how these might be overcome to ensure that the provision of care is inclusive and safe.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Sofia B. Ahmed

  2. Libin Cardiovascular Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Sofia B. Ahmed

  3. O’Brien Institute for Public Health, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Sofia B. Ahmed

  4. Alberta Kidney Disease Network, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Sofia B. Ahmed

  5. Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

    Lauren B. Beach

  6. Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

    Lauren B. Beach

  7. ADVOCATE SGM Health Program, Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Lauren B. Beach

  8. Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, New York, NY, USA

    Joshua D. Safer

  9. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Joshua D. Safer

  10. Te Kura Whatu Oho Mauri School of Psychology, University of Waikato, Hamilton, Aotearoa New Zealand

    Jaimie F. Veale

  11. Department of Sociology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA

    Cameron T. Whitley

Authors
  1. Sofia B. Ahmed
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  2. Lauren B. Beach
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  3. Joshua D. Safer
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  4. Jaimie F. Veale
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  5. Cameron T. Whitley
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Sofia B. Ahmed, Lauren B. Beach, Joshua D. Safer, Jaimie F. Veale or Cameron T. Whitley.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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The contributors

Sofia B. Ahmed is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Calgary. She is a nephrologist with a focus on sex and gender differences in kidney and cardiovascular outcomes, Advisory Board member for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Gender and Health and the President-Elect for the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences.

Lauren B. Beach is Assistant Professor in the Northwestern Department of Medical Social Sciences and Department of Preventive Medicine, Director of the ReACH SGM lab (Research on Aging, Chronic Conditions, and Health Equity in Sexual and Gender Minority populations), and Director of the ADVOCATE SGM Health program within the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing. Scientifically, Lauren Beach investigates the epidemiology of aging and chronic physical health conditions among diverse sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations and people with HIV. They also study how multilevel health- and identity-related stigmas affect health care quality, chronic condition management and health outcomes of minoritized populations.

Joshua Safer is the Executive Director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York City and Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is a co-author of the Endocrine Society guidelines for the medical care of transgender patients, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards of care (version 8), and the gender-affirming hormone treatment sections for UpToDate. He was the inaugural president of the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health, is a WPATH board member, serves on the Global Education Institute for WPATH and has been a scientific co-chair for multiple WPATH international meetings.

Jaimie Veale (she/her) is a Rutherford Discovery Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Waikato, Aotearoa, New Zealand. She is President of the Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA) and Secretary of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). She is a co-author of the WPATH Standards of Care, version 8.

Cameron T. Whitley (he/they) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Western Washington University. He studies issues concerning the environment, human–animal relationships and transgender-affirming medicine. He has over four dozen publications in journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Academic Emergency Medicine and Clinical Chemistry. In answering these questions, he has a unique perspective as a transgender-identified researcher and a kidney transplant recipient.

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Ahmed, S.B., Beach, L.B., Safer, J.D. et al. Considerations in the care of transgender persons. Nat Rev Nephrol 19, 360–365 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41581-023-00713-0

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