Dear WPATH Members

Walter Bouman, WPATH current President, has encountered a significant health issue---fully recoverable---but this situation necessitates my assumption of the Presidency on his behalf.

While Walter is supported in his recovery by a loving partner and an excellent medical team in the Netherlands, he has a long road of recovery ahead and will benefit from our love and support.

It is – at this stage – difficult to predict how long recovery might take and part of him feels badly to have let you all down, but another part of him simply knows that it will have to run its course and there is little he can do about this other than be positive and motivated to get back to life as it was. He hopes to have a much clearer idea regarding his timeline for a gradual return, in February.

In the interim, I will do my very best to unify, to lead, to listen and to dream as we enter the holiday season with hope and optimism---awaiting the end of the global pandemic, a lousy 2020, and a year of division, oppression, isolation and loss. Better times surely  lie ahead in a world best defined by diversity and inclusion.
 

To that end, I will be providing an assessment of where we stand  and where we might go in a few short weeks in the upcoming WPATH President’s Report.
 

Sincerely,
Marci L. Bowers, MD