Health Care for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Adults

Health Care for Transgender and Gender Diverse Adults seeks to define trans health care through a historical, analytical, and concern-based curriculum. The first half of the course will explore the components of sexual identity through an intersectional lens, the systemic marginalization of gender-diverse populations, and the historical pathologization of nonconforming sexual identities in the history of health care.

The second half of this course seeks to define trans health care through a tripartite lens of care preceding and during transition, care for nonconforming people, and health care for trans concerns before analyzing the historicity of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards of care and relevant ongoing care for gender-diverse patients. Students will engage in a discussion-rich curriculum that focuses on the destabilizing of race-, class-, and gender-centric assumptions surrounding the topics of gender identity, sexual orientation, birth-assigned sex, and gender expression.

They will also complete a number of case studies to critically engage with topics such as broader trans representation, nonbinary health care options, historical advances in trans health, and reproductive justice for trans communities. The course will culminate in a student-directed final project that asks them to reflect on how they might apply this knowledge to their specific career trajectory.