Transgender Health Program: For Health Care Professionals
Refer a patient
The Transgender Health Program offers resources, training and help with referrals to health care professionals in the community. You’ll find our providers and their clinics below.
Contact us at 503-494-7970 or transhealth@ohsu.edu with questions.
- Please complete our Request for Transgender Health Services referral form.
- Some services have specific prerequisites for patients to be seen. Please make sure all fields on the form are complete.
- Fax the referral form to 503-346-6854.
Grand rounds: You're invited
Please join our quarterly series on issues generated by and important to the transgender and gender-diverse community. These learning opportunities aim to educate providers to:
- Eliminate disparities in health care
- Promote equity, healing and visibility
All sessions are online, noon to 1 p.m.
Upcoming events
* TGD = transgender and gender diverse
Continuing medical education
Accreditation: Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Credit: OHSU School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Mental health providers: Write a letter of support
OHSU providers follow World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care, Version 8. This means some surgical referrals require a mental health letter of support. The letter should be written by a licensed mental health provider. If written by an unlicensed provider, the letter should be attested to and co-signed by a licensed supervisor.
- Please use this fillable mental health letter of support template to complete the letter.
- Fax the letter to 503-346-8310.
Transgender Health Program training
The Transgender Health Program provides training and classes to health care professionals and offices. We can help you provide hormone therapy and other forms of gender-affirming care in a welcoming environment. Learn more:
Find an OHSU provider
Pubertal suppression and hormone therapy
Mental health care
Adult care
The Transgender Health Program encourages primary care providers to manage hormone therapy whenever possible. This avoids disruptions in care and reduces travel time for patients who live outside the Portland area. The THP can provide resources, technical assistance and advice if you need.
Specialty care: See Endocrinology (above) for patients who need specialty hormone therapy care because of diabetes, thyroid disease or other conditions.
Surgical services
Gender-affirming mastectomy and gender-affirming breast augmentation
Hysterectomy and oophorectomy
Metoidioplasty
Orchiectomy
Phalloplasty
- Jens U. Berli, M.D.
- Erectile implants: Geolani W. Dy, M.D.
- Blair Peters, M.D.
Vaginectomy
Vaginoplasty/vulvoplasty
Laryngochrondoplasty (Adam’s apple reduction; also called a tracheal shave)
Vocal surgery to raise pitch
OHSU research
OHSU providers have done extensive research on topics related to caring for gender-diverse patients. Here is a selection of papers:
- Differences in Chest Measurements between the Cis-female and Trans-female Chest Exposed to Estrogen and Its Implications for Breast Augmentation, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, March 2019
- Top Surgery in Transgender Men: How Far Can You Push the Envelope? Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, April 2017
- What is ‘Nonbinary’ and What Do I Need to Know? A Primer for Surgeons Providing Chest Surgery for Transgender Patients, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, July 2018
- Facial Gender Confirmation Surgery: A New Nomenclature, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, November 2017
- Using the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 to screen for acute distress in transgender youth: findings from a pediatric endocrinology clinic, Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, January 2019
- Phalloplasty: techniques and outcomes, Translational Andrology and Urology, June 2019
- Phalloplasty Flap-Related Complication, Clinics in Plastic Surgery, July 2018
- Implementation of a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Program for Transgender Women Undergoing Gender-Affirming Vaginoplasty, Obstetrics and Gynecology, May 2019
- Does Depth Matter? Factors Affecting Choice of Vulvoplasty Over Vaginoplasty as Gender-Affirming Genital Surgery for Transgender Women, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, June 2018
- Injury in the transgender population: What the trauma surgeon needs to know, Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, October 2018
- What Surgeons Need to Know About Gender Confirmation Surgery When Providing Care for Transgender Individuals, JAMA Surgery, April 2017
OHSU presentations
Suicide Risk and Resilience Among TGD People Across the Lifespan
June 17, 2021: Beyond “Born in the Wrong Body”: Challenging out Biases to Provide Inclusive Care for Nonbinary Youth | Dr. Kara Connelly, Dr. Danielle Moyer, and Jess Guerriero, MSW
June 2, 2021: Beyond Medicine: The Healing Power of Gender Affirming Care
June 4, 2020: More than Medicine: Creating Safety Nets for Gender Diverse Youth | Dr. Kara Connelly, Dr. Danielle Moyer, and Jess Guerriero, MSW
May 3, 2016: Gender Reassignment Surgery: Experience From Belgrade | Miroslav L. Djordjevic, M.D., professor of pediatric surgery/urology, University Children’s Hospital in Belgrade Serbia
March 22, 2016: Medical and Surgical Transition for Transgender People | Daniel D. Dugi III, M.D., FACS, assistant professor of urology, OHSU; and Amy Penkin, LCSW, clinical program manager, OHSU Transgender Health Program
March 15, 2016: Building Trans Awareness and Responsiveness (Part 2) | Amy Penkin, LCSW, clinical program manager, OHSU Transgender Health Program
March 1, 2016: Transgender Health Program Community Forum: Vaginoplasty | Daniel D. Dugi III, M.D., FACS, assistant professor of urology, OHSU
June 5, 2015: Building Trans Awareness and Responsiveness (Part 1) | Amy Penkin, LCSW, clinical program manager, OHSU Transgender Health Program
March 22, 2015: Assessing Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Clinical Encounters | Juno Obedin-Maliver, M.D., M.P.H., and Mitchell R. Lunn, M.D., University of California-San Francisco
- Standards of Care Version 7, World Professional Association for Transgender Health
- The Fenway Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health, 2nd Edition, and other publications, National LGBT Health Education Center, Fenway Institute
- Creating a Safe and Welcoming Clinic Environment, Center of Excellence for Transgender Health
- Transgender Sexual and Reproductive Health: Unmet Needs and Barriers to Care, National Center for Transgender Equality
- Organizing for Transgender Health Care: A Guide for Community Clinic Organizing and Advocacy, Transgender Law Center
Contact us
Continue your education
- Visit our Patient Education and Events page and Continuing Professional Development page to look for CME opportunities in transgender care.
- Read a course outline of our “Introduction to Gender Diversity: Care and Treatment of Transgender and Gender Diverse (TGD) People Across the Lifespan” training.
- Fill out the Education and Consultation Request form
Stay connected
- Track your patient’s care: EpicCare Link gives you easy online access to your patient's shared electronic medical records.
- Provider relations: OHSU’s Provider Relations Team can help you resolve issues, enroll in or learn how to use EpicCare Link, and access continuing education opportunities.
- Newsletter: Connections, our quarterly newsletter for primary care providers, reports on the latest medical developments at OHSU.