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Zhenya Abbruzzese / “Ema Syrulnik” vs. transgender people

by Andrea James Reviewed September 7, 2026 8 min read

Evgenia Abbruzzese (aka “Ema Syrulnik”) is an American healthcare executive and anti-transgender estremist. Abbruzzese is a co-founder of anti-trans hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM).

Abbruzzese’s child Maia Abbruzese aka “Maia Poet” is an alleged “desister” and ex-transgender extremist.

Background

Evgenia Marksovna “Zhenya” Abbruzzese was born on October 2, 1974. Abbruzzese has used several name stylings, including

  • Evgenia Abbruzzese
  • Eugenia Abbruzzese
  • Zhenya Abbruzzese
  • Zhen Abbruzzese
  • E. Abbruzzese
  • “Ema Abbruzzese”
  • “Ema Syrulnik”
    • Ema = EMA = Evgenia Marksovna Abbruzzese
    • Syrulnik may be a play on Цирульник, “barber”

Abbruzzese left Russia at age 19 in ~1994:

“When I was 19, getting on a plane in Moscow to go to the U.S. for a summer visit to improve my English, my dad gave me a hug, an envelope with $3k (which was a small fortune he’d worked so hard to save), then looked me in the eye and said: ‘don’t come back.'”

Abbruzzese earned a bachelor’s degree from Willamette University in 1997. In 1996 Abbruzzese won recognition there for the publication “Comparative Analysis of Russian and American School Mathematics Systems: What are the Russians Doing that Provides So Much Better Results?”

Abbruzzese was a researcher at Gartner, then Escalent from 1996 to 2002. After brief stints doing healthcare analytics at Doxus and Regence, Abbruzzese founded Enigma Health in 2005. In 2011, Abbruzzese was involved in Cambia Health Solutions. In 2012, Abbruzzese became principal at J Curve Consulting.

Abbruzzese holds a patent designed to identify somatizing patients, or those whose physical complaints stem from emotional distress. Abbruzzese called these identifying techniques MUSE (medically unexplained symptoms expertise). Some trans and gender diverse people have presented with somatic symptoms.

Zhenya Abbruzzese and spouse Eric Louis Abbruzzese (born 1969) have children, including Daniil Abbruzzese and Maia Abbruzese aka “Maia Poet,” an alleged “desister” and anti-transgender extremist.

Anti-transgender activism

Abbruzzese was an invited speaker at a 2023 anti-trans conference organized by the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine. The program for the event in New York City revealed that Abbruzzese “co-founded” SEGM:

Zhenya Abbruzzese (US)

Healthcare researcher and author of several widely-read peer-reviewed publications in pediatric gender medicine. After observing an influx of teens presenting with gender dysphoria for the first time in adolescence in 2018, Zhenya began to study the Dutch protocol and its applicability to the current clinical dilemmas. Eventually her work led her to co-found the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine. Previously, Zhenya worked for a major US-based health insurer identifying low-value healthcare interventions, and led a venture-backed startup focused on patients suffering with medically-unexplained symptoms. Zhenya consults for a range of healthcare organizations, working at the intersection of physical and mental health and the promotion of culturally-competent evidence-based healthcare.

In 2024 Abbruzzese coauthored an article defending the Cass Review.

In June 2024 Abbruzzese helped organize and attended an anti-trans conference in Paris sponsored by Observatoire la Petite Sirène and SEGM.

References

Riedel, Samantha (March 16, 2026). Dr. Oz Tried to Pressure Medical Societies to Oppose Trans Youth Care. them https://www.them.us/story/dr-oz-trans-healthcare-medical-associations-trump-administration

Gibbs, Aly (September 26, 2025). TWIBS: Don’t Believe Jesse Singal’s Lies. Assigned Media https://assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/twibs-dont-believe-jesse-singals-lies/

Cravens, R.G. et al (December 12, 2023). Group dynamics and division of labor within the anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience network. Southern Poverty Law Center / CAPTAIN https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/defining-pseudoscience-network/

Jones, Zinnia (October 1, 2023). SEGM conference flier revealed: Invited speakers and schedule for October 9-12 New York City conference of the anti-trans Society for Evidence-Based Medicine. Gender Analysis https://genderanalysis.net/2023/10/segm-conference-flier-revealed-invited-speakers-and-schedule-for-october-9-12-new-york-city-conference-of-the-anti-trans-society-for-evidence-based-medicine/

United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Tallahassee (April 27, 2023). Dekker et al. v. Weida, Case No. 4:22-cv-00325-RH-MAF https://files.eqcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/184-P-Trial-Exhibits-Part-10_Ex-337-356.pdf

Lund-Muzikant, Diane (May 20, 2016). Another Cambia Start Up Bites the Dust. The Lund Report https://www.thelundreport.org/content/another-cambia-start-bites-dust

Willamette University (1997). Economics Departmental Honors. https://willamette.edu/undergraduate/economics/awards/dept-honors.html

Willamette University (1996). Carson Scholarship Winners. https://willamette.edu/offices/saga/students/internal/scholars/carson/index.html

Anti-trans coverage

Peters, Jeremy W. (March 15, 2026). In Tense Meeting, Mehmet Oz Pressed Medical Societies on Trans Care for Teens. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/us/politics/dr-oz-transgender-meeting.html

[uncredited; likely Jesse Singal] (February 6, 2026). Lawsuits over transgender medicine for minors could be huge. https://www.economist.com/united-states/2026/02/06/lawsuits-over-transgender-medicine-for-minors-could-be-huge

Ryan, Benjamin (November 19, 2025). Unmasked At Last: The 9 Authors of the Trump Administration Report On Pediatric Gender Medicine. So Who Are They? Hazard Ratio https://benryan.substack.com/p/unmasked-at-last-the-9-authors-of

US Department of Health and Human Services (November 19, 2025). HHS Releases Peer-Reviewed Report Discrediting Pediatric Sex-Rejecting Procedures. https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-releases-peer-reviewed-report-discrediting-pediatric-sex-rejecting-procedures.html

Singal, Jesse (September 23, 2025). Childhood Gender Research Is Increasingly Meaningless Because No One Knows What ‘Gender’ Means Anymore. Singal-Minded https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/childhood-gender-research-is-increasingly

[Singal, Jesse] (September 18, 2025). How stable are the gender identities of younger children? The Economist https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/09/18/how-stable-are-the-gender-identities-of-younger-children

Ryan, Benjamin (September 16, 2025). “If I’m a funding body, I would think twice about engaging with McMaster.” A Coauthor of Reviews of Pediatric Gender Medicine Reflects On the Fallout. Hazard Ratio https://benryan.substack.com/p/if-im-a-funding-body-i-would-think

Singal, Jesse (May 1, 2025). HHS Releases Landmark Review on Youth Gender Medicine. The Dispatch https://thedispatch.com/article/transgender-youth-hhs-report/

Dixon, Hayley (February 10, 2025). Revealed: More than 1,000 patients a year have trans chest surgery on the NHS. The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/10/revealed-thousands-of-trans-surgeries-carried-out-by-nhs/

Shrier, Abigail (January 30, 2025). Abigail Shrier: How the Gender Fever Finally Broke. The Free Press https://www.thefp.com/p/abigail-shrier-how-the-gender-fever-broke-trump-executive-order

Block, Jennifer (October 30, 2024). Dispute arises over World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s involvement in WHO’s trans health guideline. BMJ, q2227. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.q2227

Block, Jennifer (May 23, 2024). Gender medicine in the US: how the Cass review failed to land. BMJ, q1141. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.q1141

Klotz, Frieda (May 20, 2024). Pediatric Transgender Care and the Contentious Rise of SEGM. Undark https://undark.org/2024/05/20/pediatric-transgender-care-contentious-segm/

Rayner, Gordon (March 4, 2024). How the Dutch experiment with puberty blockers turned toxic. The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/04/dutch-puberty-blockers-nhs-gender-hormone-treatment/

Selected writing by Abbruzzese

Evgenia Abbruzzese, Alex Byrne, Farr Curlin, Moti Gorin, Kristopher Kaliebe, Michael K. Laidlaw, Kathleen McDeavitt, Leor Sapir, and Yuan Zhang (December 8, 2025). Opinion: We wrote the HHS review on treatment for minors with gender dysphoria. We hope our critics actually read our report. STAT https://www.statnews.com/2025/12/08/hhs-gender-dysphoria-minors-report-authors/

Cheung CR, Abbruzzese E, Lockhart E, Maconochie IK, Kingdon CC (2024). Gender medicine and the Cass Review: why medicine and the law make poor bedfellows. Archives of Disease in Childhood, epub 14 October 2024 https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2024-327994

Abbruzzese E, Levine SB, Mason JW (2023). The Myth of “Reliable Research” in Pediatric Gender Medicine: A critical evaluation of the Dutch Studies-and research that has followed Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 2023;49(6):673-699. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2022.2150346 Epub 2023 Jan 2.

Levine SB, Abbruzzese E, Mason JW (2022). What Are We Doing to These Children? Response to Drescher, Clayton, and Balon Commentaries on Levine et al., 2022. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 49(1), 115–125 https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2022.2136117

Biggs M (2022). The Dutch Protocol for Juvenile Transsexuals: Origins and Evidence. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 49(4), 348–368. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2022.2121238

  • “Special thanks are due to Sherena Kranat, Susan Matthews, Ema Abbruzzese, and a Dutch detransitioner.”

Levine SB, Abbruzzese E, Mason JW (2022). Reconsidering Informed Consent for Trans-Identified Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 48(7), 706–727 https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2022.2046221

Clayton A, Malone WJ, Clarke P, Mason J, D’Angelo R (2022), Commentary: The Signal and the Noise—questioning the benefits of puberty blockers for youth with gender dysphoria—a commentary on Rew et al. (2021). Child Adolesc Ment Health, 27: 259-262. https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12533

  • Thanks “Ema Syrulnik for her help with the preparation of this manuscript.”

Evans, Susan; Evans, Marcus (2021). Gender Dysphoria: A Therapeutic Model for Working with Children, Adolescents and Young Adults ISBN 978-1912691784

  • “We are grateful to the following people who have generously given their time and expertise to the development of this book: Annie Pesskin, Ian Williamson, Richard Stephens, Margot Waddell, Frances Grier, and Ema Syrulnik, as well as all our colleagues at the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine.

D’Angelo R, Abbruzzese, Zhenya [as “Ema Syrulnik”]; Ayad S, Marchiano L, Kenny DT, Clarke P (2021). One Size Does Not Fit All: In Support of Psychotherapy for Gender Dysphoria. Archives of Sexual Behavior 50, 7–16 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01844-2

D’Angelo, Roberto ; Abbruzzese, Zhenya [as “Ema Syrulnik”]; Ayad, Sasha; Marchiano, Lisa; Kenny, Dianna Theadora; Clarke, Patrick (November 1, 2020). Jack Turban’s Dangerous Campaign to Smear Ethical Psychotherapy as Anti-Trans ‘Conversion Therapy.’ Quillette https://quillette.com/2020/11/01/jack-turbans-dangerous-campaign-to-smear-ethical-psychotherapy-as-anti-trans-conversion-therapy/

Abbruzzese, Zhenya (June 3, 2017). Sudden-Onset Graduation Blues. Medium https://medium.com/@ZhenyaBB/sudden-onset-graduation-blues-dad98d1572a5

Media

Manhattan Institute / City Journal podcast with Leor Sapir and Zhenya Abbruzzese (June 11, 2026 ). On Gender Medicine: The Utah Gender Report with Leor Sapir. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGSb_80EvFw

Manhattan Institute / City Journal podcast with Leor Sapir and Zhenya Abbruzzese (June 13th, 2026). The Ongoing Gender Medicine Debate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGSb_80EvFw

Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine with Zhenya Abbruzzese (October 2023, posted December 31, 2025). Dutch Protocol: Origin and Evolution l Zhenya Abbruzzese. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM388p-vZY0

Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine with Zhenya Abbruzzese (September 2025, posted July 23, 2026). The History of Transgender Medicine: From Hirschfeld to the Dutch Protocol | Zhenya Abbruzzese. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nbPjJjLlxc

“Maanvis” / Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine and Observatoire de la petite sirène with Zhenya Abbruzzese, Roberto D’Angelo, Beryl Koener, Stephen B. Levine, Lisa Littman, Leonardo Orlando, Samuel Veissière, and Ken Zucker (June 29, 2024). Paris trans healthcare conference:Zhenya Abbruzzese about the WPATH scandal.”We’ve been Bamboozled!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdhRgjs3_Cg

Genspect with Zhenya Abbruzzese (December 9, 2023). Puberty Blockers Can Powerfully TRANSFORM a Body – Zhenya Abbruzzese. Genspect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrqLcAff9iI

Genspect / Gender: A Wider Lens with Stella O’Malley, Sasha Ayad, and Zhenya Abbruzzese (June 16, 2023). EP 118: Prioritizing Expensive & Invasive Interventions: American Healthcare w/Zhenya Abbruzzese. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhLA02Dtupc

Resources

Transgender Agency (transgender.agency)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Medium (medium.com)

J Curve Consulting (jcurveconsulting.com) [archive]

Enigma Health (enigmahealth.com) [archive]

Fiverr (fiverr.com)

  • zhenyapdx

X/Twitter (x.com)

Gmail

Facebook (facebook.com)

Google Patents (patents.google.com)

ProPublica (propublica.org)

  • Evgenia Abbruzzese: $20,949 forgiven PPP loan May 1, 2020
  • projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/loans/evgenia-abbruzzese-8230077300
  • J Curve Consulting LLC: $20,932 forgiven PPP loan March 10, 2021
  • projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/loans/j-curve-consulting-llc-8767748503

FederalPay.org (federalpay.org)

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