Discussion about gender identity has moved into the mainstream, due in part to Olympian Bruce Jenner's public transformation and Vanity Fair reveal as Caitlyn Jenner.

School of Medicine alumna Margaret Moon, M.D.'90 joined the debate in the "Opinion Pages" of The New York Times. The topic question: How old should a person be before they have gender reassignment treatment or surgery?

"Adolescents should be able to choose to undergo gender transforming surgery only if they are capable of making a highly risky, irrevocable medical decision," wrote Moon, an associate professor of general pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.

The spring/summer 2015 issue of Hopkins Medicine explores initiatives underway at Johns Hopkins to help physicians better meet the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) patients. A 2005 survey by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) showed one-half of all medical students felt inadequately prepared to care for LGBT patients. Medical knowledge and communications skills are often marred with assumptions that physicians and health care providers didn't realize they had.

Paula Neira (Nurse Educator)

Using the AAMC report as a guide, a group of faculty members and students from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is considering the best ways to weave LGBT health education through the Genes to Society curriculum.

Read the full Hopkins Medicine article.

Read the full op-ed New York Times article.

Intrigued by the history of medicine? Ever wondered why the Black Death spread so fast or how modern technology influenced medicine? Beginning in fall 2015, a new online graduate program in the History of Medicine will provide a unique opportunity to answer your questions and expand your interest.

"Our department was the first in our subject in the United States" said Randall Packard, Ph.D., director of the Department of the History of Medicine at Hopkins, "Now, through online education, we can make our expertise available to a much wider group of learners."

Wherever you are in the world, if you have a good internet connection, you can take just a course or two or go on to earn a Certificate or a Master's degree in the history of medicine. The program is designed for a broad range of learners: post-baccalaureate students, health-care professionals, academics and anyone with an interest in the history of medicine, healthcare or public health.

Classes taught by department faculty combine online lectures with interactive discussions. Courses include an issues-based introduction to themes, including pain, the history of the patient and medical technology; chronological surveys of the history of medicine from ancient times to the present and a range of seminars on topics, such as the history of public health and the history of reproduction. Register here.