Leadership Corner – October 2022
Transgender Curriculum Implementation
Vin Tangpricha, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Program Director
Emory University School of Medicine
With increasing numbers of transgender and gender diverse youth and adults seeking gender affirming health services over the past several years and recent inclusion of transgender medicine on the ABIM blueprint for the endocrinology board certification exam, APDEM decided to create a transgender medicine curriculum for endocrinology fellowship program directors to implement at their institutions. This past Spring, the APDEM council assembled a task force of experts to provide educational resources and case vignettes that would cover important aspects of transgender medicine. The members of the taskforce included Marina Charitou, Caroline Davidge-Pitts, Ole-Petter Hamnvik, Joshua Safer, and Vin Tangpricha. This new curriculum is and exclusive APDEM member benefit and can be requested by emailing APDEM@endocrine.org. The recommendations for PDs include educational resources on transgender medicine from the Endocrine Society and WPATH guidelines and key review articles. Additional recommendations include didactic lectures as part of the core curriculum, clinical electives with a local transgender expert/team, and a participation in case-based discussions. The case-based discussions are a particularly useful educational exercise for programs that might not have dedicated transgender programs. These 7 cases cover the initiation of gender affirming hormone therapy, addressing fertility concerns, and managing potential complications. Each case is followed by a multi-choice question, discussion of key learning points, and references. Additional resources for program directors are in an appendix which includes links to guidelines, terminology, online content, research articles, and reviews.
As a member of the taskforce, I’m delighted to see that APDEM is providing these resources to our endocrine education community. Transgender care is normal healthcare. All endocrinologists should feel comfortable with prescribing and monitoring sex hormone therapy in all individuals. Providing these educational resources to our trainees is an important key step in normalizing the care for this very vulnerable group of patients who have a difficult time accessing health care services. We hope that these tools are a useful educational resource for your programs.