Dr. Ximena Lopez
HRC will honor Dr. Ximena Lopez, a pediatric endocrinologist, who founded the only clinic for transgender youth in the Southwest. The clinic is at Children’s Health in the annex on I-35E in Dallas.
We featured Lopez’s work in a Dallas Voice article about a trans teen she was working with in 2015, soon after the clinic opened. Since then, the doctor’s pioneering work has been recognized around the country for saving the lives of transgender youth.
In the Dallas Voice article, Lopez explained that teens are given medication to suppress puberty.
“If you avoid the effects of puberty, the outcome might be better,” Lopez said.
She said that the effect of that medication is reversible if the teen decides not to continue with transition after the age of 18. But with a proper diagnosis of gender dysphoria, a teen can continue transitioning with fewer side effects at 18.
The award will be given at the Time to Thrive Conference in Orlando on Feb. 16-18. She will receive HRC’s Upstander Award.
— David Taffet