Johanna Olson-Kennedy

Olson-Kennedy is the co-author of multiple of studies on transgender youth. These include studies on chest reconstruction, gender identity development, physiological responses to gender-affirming hormones, and the use of puberty blockers.{{Cite web |title=The Impact of Early Medical Treatment in Transgender Youth |url=https://reporter.nih.gov/search/OPTb_4f5-kOe2wU2YYzolA/project-details/10615754 |access-date=October 23, 2024 |website=NIH |language=en}} She is a critic of a "gatekeeping" approach to youth gender medicine, according to The Economist.

In 2012, Olson-Kennedy became the medical director of the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the largest transgender youth clinic in the United States as of 2024. In 2015, she began to lead a $10 million NIH-funded research project to study youth gender medicine, described as "by far the largest such project in America" by The Economist.

In October 2024, the New York Times reported that Olson-Kennedy had chosen not to publish a long-running study on puberty blockers funded by the National Institutes of Health, which showed that blockers did not lead to improvements in mental health of children. Olson-Kennedy attributed this to the children already being in good mental health at the study’s outset—an explanation The New York Times noted was inconsistent with an earlier statement by Olson-Kennedy and her research team, which had recorded a quarter of the studied cohort as depressed or suicidal before receiving puberty blockers. Olson-Kennedy said she was concerned that the study's results could be used by political opponents in the US to argue in court that "we shouldn't use blockers because it doesn't impact [transgender adolescents]".{{Cite web |last=Ghorayshi |first=Azeen |date=October 23, 2024 |title=U.S. Study on Puberty Blockers Goes Unpublished Because of Politics, Doctor Says |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/science/puberty-blockers-olson-kennedy.html |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=New York Times |language=en}} As summarized by the New York Times, other researchers involved in the study, including Amy Tishelman, were "alarmed by the idea of delaying results that would have immediate implications for families around the world." However, other studies from the larger NIH project have been published, including one that found "improvements in life and body satisfaction" in transgender and nonbinary adolescents who took estrogen or testosterone as well as "declines in depression and anxiety."

In December 2024, Olson-Kennedy was sued by a 20-year old female detransitioner, alleging she had caused permanent harm by a rushed diagnosis of gender dysphoria "mere minutes" after first seeing the plaintiff at age 12, who went on to receive puberty blockers, testosterone, and a double mastectomy at age 14.{{cite news |last1=Deese |first1=Kaelan |date=6 December 2024 |title=Transgender youth doctor faces historic lawsuit: 'Damage has been done' |url=https://gazette.com/news/wex/transgender-youth-doctor-faces-historic-lawsuit-damage-has-been-done/article_d7c6b787-9fbc-57a4-b730-a1dc4055b41e.html |access-date=6 December 2024 |work=The Gazette}}{{Cite web |last1=Barba |first1=Sara |last2=Libby | first2=Michael |date=2024-12-06 |title=Woman sues California doctors, says she was rushed at age 12 into gender transition she regrets |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/lawsuit-transgender-health-care-19964425.php |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=San Francisco Chronicle |language=en}} The lawsuit also names the St. Francis Hospital in San Francisco and a second doctor as defendants, alleging that the latter had "rubber-stamped" the mastectomy.

The same day, a group of Republican senators published a letter addressed to the director of the NIH which inquired further information about the NIH project and reiterated the importance of transparency in the medical research that the NIH supports with public funds.{{cite news |last1=Ring |first1=Trudy |title=Republican senators push for 'transparency' on trans youth care studies |url=https://www.advocate.com/politics/republicans-demand-puberty-blocker-findings |access-date=14 December 2024 |date=10 December 2024}} All senators involved except for one had previously sponsored a ban on youth gender-affirming care.{{Cite web |date=2024-12-06 |title=Republican senators launch inquiry into unpublished NIH study on puberty blockers for trans youth |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/5027047-nih-study-puberty-blockers-letter/amp/ |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}} This letter follows an earlier November 4th letter from the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to the director whose focal point was again the unpublished study by Johanna Olson-Kennedy.{{cite web |title=McClain Probes $9.7 Million Taxpayer-Funded Study Buried by Activist Researcher on Puberty Blockers |url=https://oversight.house.gov/release/mcclain-probes-9-7-million-taxpayer-funded-study-buried-by-activist-researcher-on-puberty-blockers%EF%BF%BC/ |website=house.gov |access-date=14 December 2024 |date=4 November 2024}}{{cite news |last1=Arnold |first1=Tyler |title=House probes NIH after doctor concealed study that disputes puberty blocker benefits |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/260469/house-probes-nih-after-doctor-concealed-study-that-disputes-puberty-blocker-benefits |access-date=14 December 2024 |date=14 November 2024}}

• 2020s anti-LGBTQ movement in the United States
• Leeds lawsuit (Bell v Tavistock)

• {{Cite journal |last=Olson-Kennedy |first=Johanna |date=2016-05-01 |title=Mental Health Disparities Among Transgender Youth: Rethinking the Role of Professionals |url=https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2016.0155 |journal=JAMA Pediatrics |volume=170 |issue=5 |pages=423–424 |doi=10.1001/jamapediatrics.2016.0155 |pmid=26998945 |issn=2168-6203}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Olson-Kennedy |first1=J |last2=Cohen-Kettenis |first2=P. T. |last3=Kreukels |first3=B.P.C |last4=Meyer-Bahlburg |first4=H.F.L |last5=Garofalo |first5=R |last6=Meyer |first6=W |last7=Rosenthal |first7=S.M. |date=April 2016 |title=Research Priorities for Gender Nonconforming/Transgender Youth: Gender Identity Development and Biopsychosocial Outcomes |journal=Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Obesity |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=172–179 |doi=10.1097/MED.0000000000000236 |issn=1752-296X |pmc=4807860 |pmid=26825472}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Olson |first1=Johanna |last2=Forbes |first2=Catherine |last3=Belzer |first3=Marvin |date=2011-02-01 |title=Management of the Transgender Adolescent |journal=Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine |volume=165 |issue=2 |pages=171–176 |doi=10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.275 |pmid=21300658 |issn=1072-4710|doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Olson |first1=Johanna |last2=Garofalo |first2=Robert |date=June 2014 |title=The peripubertal gender-dysphoric child: puberty suppression and treatment paradigms |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24972421/ |journal=Pediatric Annals |volume=43 |issue=6 |pages=e132–137 |doi=10.3928/00904481-20140522-08 |issn=1938-2359 |pmid=24972421}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Olson |first1=Johanna |last2=Schrager |first2=Sheree M. |last3=Belzer |first3=Marvin |last4=Simons |first4=Lisa K. |last5=Clark |first5=Leslie F. |date=October 2015 |title=Baseline Physiologic and Psychosocial Characteristics of Transgender Youth Seeking Care for Gender Dysphoria |journal=The Journal of Adolescent Health|volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=374–380 |doi=10.1016/j.jadohealth.2015.04.027 |issn=1879-1972 |pmc=5033041 |pmid=26208863}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150427182933/http://www.wetreatkidsbetter.org/2015/04/transgender-community-questions-answers-with-johanna-olson-md-chlas-transyouth-program Transgender Community Questions & Answers With Johanna Olson, MD – CHLA’s Transyouth Program] (archived)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20180827153222/http://www.hrc.org/resources/transgender-children-youth-ask-the-expert-is-my-child-transgender Human Rights Campaign: Transgender Children & Youth: Ask the Expert - Is My Child Transgender?]

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