Jack L. Turban is an American psychiatrist, writer, and commentator who researches the mental health of transgender youth.[1][2] His writing has appeared in The New York Times,[3][4][5] The Washington Post,[6][7] The Los Angeles Times,[8] CNN,[9][10][11] Scientific American,[12][13][14] and Vox.[15][16][17] He is an assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at The University of California San Francisco and affiliate faculty in health policy at The Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies.[18][19]

Jack Turban
Born
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Yale University (MD, MHS)
Occupation(s)Psychiatrist, writer, and researcher
EmployerUniversity of California San Francisco
Known forLGBTQ mental health research

Early life and education

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Turban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[1] Fearful of violence from his father, he did not come out as gay until he attended college.[20] He later wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine about his early experiences of childhood homophobia and how they influenced his experience of medical education.[20] Turban attended Harvard College where he studied neuroscience, then earned his medical and master of health science degrees from Yale School of Medicine. He completed psychiatry residency at McLean Hospital (Harvard Medical School) in 2020 and child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine in 2022.[19][18]

Career

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Turban is an assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry and health policy at the University of California, San Francisco.[18][19] He has published studies showing that gender identity conversion therapies (attempts to make transgender people cisgender) are widespread in the US[21][22] and associated with suicide attempts.[23][24][25][26][27] His research has shown that access to gender-affirming medical care (puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones) during adolescence is linked to better mental health outcomes in adulthood.[28][29][30][31] He has also been one of the few researchers to publish on the topic of gender de-transition,[32][33] including in the academic literature.[34][35][36]

Turban has been critical of Wall Street Journal writer Abigail Shrier's book Irreversible Damage, which alleges that a recent surge in adolescents becoming transgender is taking place, supposedly due to social contagion. He claimed that the book misinterpreted and omitted important scientific evidence about young people and gender identity.[37] He subsequently co-authored a study arguing that gender dysphoria in children was not caused by social contagion.[38]

Turban has been critical of the geosocial networking application Grindr, and argued in Vox that the app may have detrimental effects on the mental health of gay men.[39][16] He has complained that Grindr does not do enough to keep minors off of their platform, and that this may pose sexual risk to young people.[40] His opinion piece for The New York Times about minors on Grindr was one of several LGBT articles that were conspicuously censored with large white boxes in The New York Times print edition in Qatar.[41]

References

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  1. ^ a b Brammer, John Paul (June 14, 2017). "#Pride30: Physician Jack Turban is dedicated to trans kids' health". NBC News. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  2. ^ Isaac, Bronwyn (June 26, 2017). "How Young Doctors Are De-Bunking Transphobia In Medicine". Bustle. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  3. ^ Turban, Jack (April 8, 2017). "Opinion | Hannah Is a Girl. Doctors Finally Treat Her Like One". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  4. ^ Turban, Jack (February 6, 2020). "Opinion | What South Dakota Doesn't Get About Transgender Children". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  5. ^ Turban, Jack (June 13, 2018). "Opinion | The Digital Sex Lives of Young Gay Teenagers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  6. ^ Turban, Jack. "Opinion | How I am prioritizing my psychiatry patients amid a pandemic". Washington Post. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  7. ^ Turban, Jack. "Opinion | Texas officials are spreading blatant falsehoods about medical care for transgender kids". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  8. ^ Martin, Wednesday; Turban, Jack (2020-05-28). "The best advice for the three most common coronavirus relationship issues". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  9. ^ Turban, Jack (2023-04-24). "Opinion: What the anti-trans movement is all about". CNN. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  10. ^ Turban, Jack (2021-04-02). "Doctor: Arkansas anti-LGBTQ law is completely unethical". CNN. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  11. ^ Gill-Peterson, Jack Turban,Jules (2021-06-24). "Opinion: Attacks on trans people are also attacks on science itself". CNN. Retrieved 2024-06-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Turban, Jack (2021-05-01). "Trans Girls Belong on Girls' Sports Teams". Scientific American. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  13. ^ Turban, Jack (2021-01-01). "The Disturbing History of Research into Transgender Identity". Scientific American. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  14. ^ Turban, Jack. "Politicians Don't Get to Use 'Science' to Oppose the Equality Act". Scientific American. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  15. ^ Turban, Jack (April 15, 2020). ""I want to donate plasma for an experimental Covid-19 treatment. Because of homophobia, I can't."". Vox. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  16. ^ a b "We need to talk about how Grindr is affecting gay men's mental health". www.vox.com. April 4, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  17. ^ Turban, Jack (October 22, 2018). "It's okay to let your transgender kid transition — even if they might change their mind in the future". Vox. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  18. ^ a b c "Jack Turban MD MHS Profile". University of California San Francisco.
  19. ^ a b c "Jack Turban MD MHS | Psychology Today". www.psychologytoday.com. Retrieved 2022-10-04.
  20. ^ a b Turban, Jack L. (October 3, 2019). "Medical Training in the Closet". New England Journal of Medicine. 381 (14): 1305–1307. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1905829. ISSN 0028-4793. PMC 7935459. PMID 31577873.
  21. ^ Aviles, Gwen (August 15, 2019). "Nearly 200,000 trans people have been exposed to conversion therapy, study says". NBC News. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  22. ^ Crist, Carolyn. "Transgender people in U.S. still face conversion therapy attempts". News.trust.org. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  23. ^ Bever, Lindsey. "Conversion therapy associated with severe psychological distress in transgender people, study says". The Washington Post.
  24. ^ Gander, Kashmira (September 11, 2019). "Transgender conversion therapy linked to suicide attempts, with practice "rooted solely in discrimination and hate"". Newsweek. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  25. ^ Assunção, Muri (September 11, 2019). "Trans adults who try professional help to change gender identity are twice likely to commit suicide, new study finds". New York Daily News. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  26. ^ Wadman, Meredith (September 12, 2019). "New study reveals risks of transgender 'conversion therapy'". Science Magazine. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  27. ^ Mahale, Jenna (September 14, 2019). "New Study Conclusively Ties "Conversion Therapy" to Suicide Attempts". Vice. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  28. ^ Ramirez, Marc. "Transgender children who get hormone therapy enjoy better mental health, study says". USA TODAY. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  29. ^ "Early access to gender-affirming hormones linked to better mental health, study finds". NBC News. January 13, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  30. ^ "Puberty blockers linked to lower suicide risk for transgender people". NBC News. January 24, 2020. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  31. ^ G, Kashmira; er (January 23, 2020). "Transgender people who have access to puberty blockers are less likely to have suicidal thoughts, study finds". Newsweek. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  32. ^ Bokat-Lindell, Spencer (April 8, 2021). "Opinion | How Trans Children Became a Political Football". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  33. ^ Knox, Liam (December 19, 2019). "Media's 'detransition' narrative is fueling misconceptions, trans advocates say". NBC News. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  34. ^ Turban, Jack L.; Loo, Stephanie S.; Almazan, Anthony N.; Keuroghlian, Alex S. (May 2021). "Factors Leading to "Detransition" Among Transgender and Gender Diverse People in the United States: A Mixed-Methods Analysis". LGBT Health. 8 (4): 273–280. doi:10.1089/lgbt.2020.0437. ISSN 2325-8306. PMC 8213007. PMID 33794108.
  35. ^ Turban, Jack L.; Keuroghlian, Alex S. (July 2018). "Dynamic Gender Presentations: Understanding Transition and "De-Transition" Among Transgender Youth". Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 57 (7): 451–453. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2018.03.016. ISSN 1527-5418. PMID 29960687. S2CID 49645550.
  36. ^ Turban, Jack L.; Carswell, Jeremi; Keuroghlian, Alex S. (October 1, 2018). "Understanding Pediatric Patients Who Discontinue Gender-Affirming Hormonal Interventions". JAMA Pediatrics. 172 (10): 903–904. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.1817. ISSN 2168-6211. PMID 30178056. S2CID 52147320.
  37. ^ "New Book "Irreversible Damage" Is Full of Misinformation | Psychology Today". www.psychologytoday.com. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  38. ^ Yurcaba, Jo (2022-08-13). "Gender Dysphoria in Transgender Kids Is Not Caused by 'Social Contagion,' Study Finds". Peoplemag. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
  39. ^ Gremore, Graham (April 7, 2018). "Grindr leaves men feeling depressed and dead inside, research finds". Queerty. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  40. ^ Becker, Deborah (February 26, 2019). "Psychiatrist: LGBTQ Youth Vulnerable, Not Protected From Access To Dating Sites Like Grindr". WBUR (NPR). Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  41. ^ Sims, Shannon (August 1, 2018). "My Article Was Censored. I Found Out Why". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 2, 2019.