It appears that this year, Endocrine News is having a number of firsts in terms themed issues: in January we devoted an issue to thyroid cancer and last month was the first time we devoted an issue to our Asian American members to commemorate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. This month we mark another first: To commemorate LGBTQ+ Pride Month, we are highlighting Endocrine Society members who belong to the LGBTQ+ community.
Kelly Horvath had a very congenial conversation with two of the Society’s most prominent gay members, Bruno Ferraz-de-Souza, MD, PhD, and Stephen M. Rosenthal, MD, in “Pride Without Prejudice.” They discuss everything from coming out professionally, the impact of their mentors throughout their careers, their many challenges and successes, as well as the importance of the Endocrine Society in their professional lives and what impact being openly gay has had on their work. “I need to be out because I want to be giving this example that you can be gay and be someone who contributes to the Society and be in leadership positions and help others as a doctor and researcher. Being completely out at work gives you a sense of freedom and not having to be safeguarding,” Ferraz-de-Souza says, adding that “when you obscure that part of your life, you become defensive about a lot of things, and it impacts how you relate to people.” And while we had to cut some of this article for the print magazine, the full-length, unabridged conversation is on our website!
Glenda Fauntleroy Shaw talked to Julie Ann Sosa, MD, MA, FACS, for “A Profile in Courage,” where she explains why she views being female, Latina and LGBTQ+ as her superpower rather than being a hindrance in her role as the Leon Goldman MD Distinguished Professor of Surgery at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) where she has served as chair of UCSF’s Department of Surgery since 2018. She discusses how being out helps her understand the lives of many of her trainees and junior colleagues a little more, and thus connect with them. “In the end, our legacy is measured not by citations, publications, and presentations, but rather by people whose lives we impact,” Sosa explains. “If I can share my life experience and others can learn from my mistakes without having to make them, I will have had lasting impact, hopefully.”
For “Body Positive: A Closer Look at BMI Criteria for Gender-Affirming Surgery,” Senior Editor Derek Bagley speaks with Sean Iwamoto, MD, and John M. Taormina, MD, two openly gay clinician researchers who were two of the co-authors of a recent Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism paper that discusses the need to re-evaluate body mass index (BMI) requirements for transgender and gender diverse people prior to undergoing gender-affirming surgeries. They discuss not only how these requirements can present an obstacle to the surgery, but also the need for a more multidisciplinary approach to these patients. For his part, Taormina explains that he wants to bring awareness that simply using BMI alone is not enough to determine someone’s medical risk. “Surgical risks must be weighed against the risks of delaying surgery and the risks of forcing weight loss to access lifesaving care,” he says. “For many, gender-affirming surgeries are lifesaving surgeries.”
We hope that these articles give you a little bit more insight to the lives, careers, and work of just a handful of the Endocrine Society’s members who are members of the LGBTQ+ community. Personally, I would like to applaud these members for being so open and forthright with their stories. Honestly, it takes a lot of courage to be one’s true self in a professional environment and I truly appreciate their contributions, not just to this issue of Endocrine News, but to the success of the Endocrine Society as well as the practice and science of endocrinology.
Feel free to let me know what you think of this issue recognizing our LGBTQ+ members and what sort of suggestions you have for future issues. You can always contact me at: [email protected].
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