Provisional programme
The programme is being finalised and there may be some additions and changes to the sessions and line up.
Rethinking Youth Gender Medicine
London
5/6 July 2026
Day one | Aetiologies, evidence, research, and ethics
Welcome: Baroness Dianne Hayter and Dr Louise Irvine, co-chair CAN-SG
History and aetiologies
- A brief history of gender medicine and the rise of the Dutch protocol (Zhenya Abbruzzese)
- How the availability of puberty suppression transformed the social, cultural, and medical landscape (Prof. Michael Biggs)
- Language, gender and diagnostic confusion (Prof Alex Byrne)
Evidence, uncertainty, and risk
- Exceptional uncertainty in paediatric gender medicine (Dr. Alison Clayton)
- Puberty blockers and the adolescent brain (Prof. Sallie Baxendale)
- Considerations from plastic surgery (Dr. Scott Glasberg, former chair of American Plastic Surgery Association)
Research
- Pathways trial and UK research regulations Dr. Sinéad Helyar)
- Is there equipoise for interventional trials? (Dr. Ray Zhang)
- Adverse effects and risks of hormonal interventions in paediatric gender medicine (Dr. Hannah Ryan)
Ethics
- Embodiment goals, consent, social acceptance (Prof. Moti Gorin)
- The child’s right to an open future (Prof. Céline Masson)
- The role of parents in medical decision-making
Day two | Social and cultural contexts, clinical perspectives
Cultural influences
- Social transition (Stephanie Davies-Arai)
- Online social networks (Sarah Mittermaier)
Child and adolescent mental health
- Rethinking diagnosis (TBC)
- Gender dysphoria as a manifestation of other issues (Dr. Roberto D’Angelo)
- Gender within context of child and adolescent mental health (Anastassis Spiliadis)
Clinical perspectives
- One-on-one psychotherapeutic work with gender-distressed youth (Dr. Anna Hutchinson)
- Working psychotherapeutically with families of gender-distressed youth (Dr. Stephen Levine)
- Autism spectrum disorders and gender-related distress (Dr. Katie Alcock)
Looking to the future panel discussion: How can we support young people?
- Sue Evans, Stephanie Davies-Arai, Dr. Anna Hutchinson, Dr. Stephen Levine