Transgender Surgery:
Crossing Disciplines and Changing Minds
Marci Bowers, MD

The Fourth Annual ASA Diversity Lecture
Monday, April 24, 2017, 10:30 AM
Sponsored by the ASA Diversity Initiative Program
Marci Bowers, M.D. of Burlingame, California, is acknowledged as a pioneer in the field of Genital Reassignment Surgery and is the first woman worldwide to hold a personal transgender history while performing transgender surgery. She is also the first US surgeon to learn the technique of functional clitoral restoration after Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Dr. Bowers is a pelvic and gynecologic surgeon with more than 26 years’ experience. She is a University of Minnesota Medical School graduate and former class and student body president. Her Ob/Gyn residency was at the University of Washington. She continued in Seattle as an Obstetrician/Gynecologist at the Polyclinic and Swedish Medical Center, then joined Dr. Stanley Biber in Trinidad, Colorado in 2003, redefining US transgender surgery. She gained expertise in FGM clitoral restoration from noted French surgeon, Pierre Foldes in 2007-2009. Dr. Bowers relocated her surgical practice to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2010.

As an international authority on clitoral reconstruction, Dr. Bowers is sought after as a speaker and worldwide surgical educator and has been featured in numerous documentaries and news features including the Guardian, BBC, Times of London, Esquire and many others. Dr. Bowers is a member of WPATH, and serves on the board of directors for both GLAAD and the Transgender Law Center. In 2016, she joined the faculty at Mt. Sinai-Beth Israel in New York to establish the first transgender surgical educational program in the US. Her transgender work has been highlighted by appearances on Oprah, CBS Sunday Morning and Discovery Health. Dr. Bowers was recently honored as one of the 100 most influential LGBT people on the Guardian’s World Pride Power List and also recognized as one of The Huffington Post’s 50 Transgender Icons.

Dr. Bowers will highlight her surgical work with the backdrop of changing societal expectations.

2016
​Thomas LaVeist, Ph.D.

"My Journey to Understand Why Health Disparities Exist and What to Do about It"

Director, Center for Health Disparities Solutions
William C. and Nancy F. Richardson Professor in Health Policy
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
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Dr. LaVeist's research and writing has focused on three broad thematic research questions: 1) What are the social and behavioral factors that predict the timing of various related health outcomes (e.g. access and utilization of health services, mortality, entrance into nursing home? 2) What are the social and behavioral factors that explain race differences in health outcomes?; and 3) What has been the impact of social policy on the health and quality of life of African Americans? His work has included both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Dr. LaVeist seeks to develop an orienting framework in the development of policy and interventions to address race disparities in health-related outcomes. Specific areas of expertise include: U.S. health and social policy, the role of race in health research, social factors contributing to mortality, longevity and life expectancy, quantitative and demographic analysis and access, and utilization of health services.

2015
​Nancy L. Brackett, Ph.D.

“Current trends in the treatment of infertility in men with spinal cord injury”

​Departments of Urology and Neurological Surgery
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine
Miami, USA

In countries throughout the world, men with spinal cord injury (SCI) outnumber women with SCI, often by as much as 4:1.  Because the most common causes of injury include motor vehicle accidents, violence, falls, and sports-related injuries, it has been assumed that this gender disparity is due to more men than women engaging in risk-taking behaviors. However, this assumption has not been confirmed. The majority of new spinal cord injuries occur to persons between 18 and 35 years, i.e, the prime parenting years. Following SCI, women can conceive via sexual intercourse and deliver children with nearly the same success rate as women without disability. In contrast, most men with SCI are infertile due to a combination of erectile dysfunction, ejaculatory dysfunction, and semen abnormalities. Dr. Nancy Brackett is a researcher in the area of reproductive health and men with paralysis.

2014
​Charles Modlin, MD

"Disparities in Men’s Health:
​The Role of the Primary Care Physician"

Kidney Transplant Surgeon, Urologist and Founder and Director of the Minority Men’s Health Center of Cleveland Clinic's Glickman Urological Institute, and Executive Director of Minority Health for Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland, OH

​A special area of interest of Dr. Modlin is the issue of healthcare disparities experienced by minority patients in the United States. Minority patients suffer a disproportionate burden of disease in many areas, such as prostate cancer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and need for kidney transplantation. To this end, Dr. Modlin has developed a dedicated Minority Men’s Health Center and Center for Health Equity at Cleveland Clinic. The center conducts dedicated research into elimination of minority healthcare disparities and provides community outreach as well as direct patient care and public education to minority patients.