PRESIDENT'S NOTE - SEPTEMBER 2023 Hello Colleagues, I write you as we enter autumn, that indescribable "fall air" has begun to waft its way into our lives. It's an exciting time as kids go back to school, apple picking trips fill our weekend calendars, and the inevitable debates about pumpkin spice fill the airwaves and our social media feeds. It is also the season for the upcoming USPATH biennial conference in Denver this November, which will be an exciting and cutting edge forum for discussions and sharing of ideas on the state of the science in our field. Our Scientific Symposium Committee, under the leadership of Drs. Henry Ng and Thomas Satterwhite, and with the guidance of USPATH President-Elect Dr. Carl Streed, Jr., has worked tirelessly to develop an outstanding program packed with the latest research and knowledge in trans and gender expansive health, exciting plenaries, and with the involvement of local community leaders and stakeholders. I hope to see you all there! We recognize that the costs associated with attending the conference can present a challenge for some attendees. The decision for the city and venue chosen was based on accessibility by air as well as the need for a venue with adequate capacity and audio-visual facilities for a conference of our size and nature. In comparison to other medical professional societies, our conference costs are lower than many other conferences of similar size and scope. In order to support attendance at the conference by those who have experienced barriers on the basis of their identity, lived experiences, or life station, we are very pleased to have been able to expand our scholarship offerings for this year's conference. We have provided 3 categories of scholarship awards, funded in part by the USPATH Presidential Discretionary Fund. Awardees in each category were chosen at random from among the qualified applicants in each category: 2 scholarships (maximum of $1500) for Student Members who identify as trans/gender diverse: 2 scholarships (maximum of $1500) for Student Members who belong to a non-white race/ethnicity: - Awardee who requests anonymity
- Jameelah Merritt
1 scholarship (maximum of $1500) for a researcher or clinical staff person in a non-licensed/non investigator role: Thank you to all who applied for scholarships. We hope to continue to expand our offerings in the future, and we encourage those who wish and are able to support these efforts to make a donation by clicking here. The USPATH Board has been hard at work on a number of initiatives. We have nearly completed a revision of the USPATH Bylaws. The existing bylaws were put in place when USPATH was created by the WPATH Board some 6 years ago. Since that time, as USPATH has grown and our mission and activities have become more clearly defined, updating our bylaws to align accordingly has been a priority. With support from the WPATH legal team, and the hard work of our Bylaws Committee, led by Dr. Carl Streed, Jr., as well as Drs. Caroline Davidge-Pitts, Lisa Griffin, Johanna Olson-Kennedy, and Jason Schneider, we have nearly finalized the document, and will have it available for membership review and vote at the November conference. The Board has also worked on multiple fronts to respond to the growing attacks and political climate surrounding the care of trans persons, especially youth, as well as broader access to care in this country. As a scientific organization, USPATH remains focused on the scientific messaging - transgender and gender expansive people have been a part of the breadth of human experience for millennia, providing gender affirming medical care for youth and adults when criteria have been met is of significant benefit, and the decades of experience and research evidence supports this care. My colleagues and I on the Board have engaged in countless press interviews and provided testimony and other commentary in a range of fora to continue signaling this important message. We plan to share more about these and other USPATH activities and initiatives with you all at the conference in Denver this November. Registration is still open, so click here to register and join us! Lastly, personally and behalf of the USPATH Board, I wish to thank you all for all that you do. Each and every one of you is doing such important work. Your work is saving lives, and your continued perseverance in the face of these baseless attacks on our work and science is an inspiration. Warmly and in solidarity,
Maddie Maddie Deutsch, MD, MPH President, US Professional Association for Transgender Health Professor of Clinical Family & Community Medicine
University of California - San Francisco | 
