Johanna L Olson-Kennedy
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Physiological and Metabolic Characteristics of a Cohort of Transgender and Gender-Diverse Youth in the United States J Adolesc Health. 2020 Sep; 67(3):376-383. . View in PubMed
Low Bone Mineral Density in Early Pubertal Transgender/Gender Diverse Youth: Findings From the Trans Youth Care Study J Endocr Soc. 2020 Sep 01; 4(9):bvaa065. . View in PubMed
Psychosocial Characteristics of Transgender Youth Seeking Gender-Affirming Medical Treatment: Baseline Findings From the Trans Youth Care Study J Adolesc Health. 2020 Aug 21. . View in PubMed
Long-term Puberty Suppression for a Nonbinary Teenager Pediatrics. 2020 02; 145(2). . View in PubMed
Impact of Early Medical Treatment for Transgender Youth: Protocol for the Longitudinal, Observational Trans Youth Care Study JMIR Res Protoc. 2019 Jul 09; 8(7):e14434. . View in PubMed
Resisting the Post-Truth Era: Maintaining a Commitment to Science and Social Justice in Bioethics Am J Bioeth. 2019 07; 19(7):W1-W3. . View in PubMed
Creating the Trans Youth Research Network: A Collaborative Research Endeavor Transgend Health. 2019; 4(1):304-312. . View in PubMed
The Impact of Cell Phone Support on Psychosocial Outcomes for Youth Living with HIV Nonadherent to Antiretroviral Therapy AIDS Behav. 2018 Oct; 22(10):3357-3362. . View in PubMed
Physiologic Response to Gender-Affirming Hormones Among Transgender Youth J Adolesc Health. 2018 04; 62(4):397-401. . View in PubMed
Chest Reconstruction and Chest Dysphoria in Transmasculine Minors and Young Adults: Comparisons of Nonsurgical and Postsurgical Cohorts JAMA Pediatr. 2018 05 01; 172(5):431-436. . View in PubMed
Research priorities for gender nonconforming/transgender youth: gender identity development and biopsychosocial outcomes Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes. 2016 Apr; 23(2):172-9. . View in PubMed
Mental Health Disparities Among Transgender Youth: Rethinking the Role of Professionals JAMA Pediatr. 2016 05 01; 170(5):423-4. . View in PubMed
Baseline Physiologic and Psychosocial Characteristics of Transgender Youth Seeking Care for Gender Dysphoria J Adolesc Health. 2015 Oct; 57(4):374-80. . View in PubMed
Management of the transgender adolescent Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2011 Feb; 165(2):171-6. . View in PubMed
Research Interests:
Johanna Olson, MD, Medical Director of the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, works closely with gender nonconforming children and adolescents to find ways to help them thrive. Gender-nonconforming youth are emerging at increasingly younger ages, and those experiencing gender dysphoria are seeking medical care at the onset of puberty, or sometimes even before. Youth with gender dysphoria are at high risk for depression, anxiety, isolation, self-harm, and suicidality at the onset of a puberty that feels wrong. Existing strategies for treating transgender youth depend on the developmental stage at which these youth present for care. For those transgender youth that present for care in the early stages of pubertal development, treatment is aimed at suppressing their endogenous puberty in order to avoid the development of undesired secondary sexual characteristics that intensify the distress associated with gender incongruence. For those youth in later stages of puberty, the goal of treatment is to use cross-sex hormones in order to induce the development of desired secondary sexual characteristics that bring the body into closer alignment with the youth's internal sense of gender.
