Iván D. Flórez vs. transgender people

by Andrea James Reviewed September 10, 2026 3 min read

Iván D. Flórez is a Colombian pediatrician, researcher, and anti-transgender activist. Flórez was part of the research agreement between anti-transgender hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) and McMaster University.

Flórez is part of SEGM’s strategy to discredit the Standards of Care published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Flórez has continued to work with SEGM after the SEGM-McMaster agreement was terminated amid protests.

Background

Iván Dario Flórez-Gómez was born in the mid-1970s. Flórez attended Universidad de Antioquia in Medellin, earning a medical degree in 2001, completing training in pediatrics in 2006, and earning master’s degree in 2010. In 2014, Flórez attended McMaster University, teaching there while earning a doctorate in 2020 and continuing to teach there until 2026.

Starting in 2006, Flórez practiced pediatrics at San Vicente Fundación and at Las Américas AUNA. Flórez has lectured at Universidad CES in Medellin (2012), Universidad El Bosque in Bogotá (2013), and Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla (starting in 2018).

Flórez was appointed a professorship at Universidad de Antioquia in 2012, later earning tenure as a full professor. In 2026, Flórez was named an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine.

From 2012 to 2014, Flórez was Deputy Director of Clinical Practice Guidelines at Instituto de Evaluación Tecnológica en Salud [Health Technology Assessment Institute] (IETS).

Flórez has also served on the editorial boards of Journal of Clinical Epidemiology; Journal of the American Heart Association, Cochrane Evidence Synthesis Methods, and Pediatric Discovery.

Flórez is a prominent figure in evidence-based medicine and guideline methodology. Flórez leads the Appraisal of Guidelines for REsearch & Evaluation (AGREE) Collaboration, which assesses clinical guideline quality by examining the methodology used in development. Flórez is director of Cochrane Colombia, which produces evidence reviews for the purpose of guideline development. Flórez has been part of the GRADE working group at McMaster University, developed by Gordon Guyatt. Flórez has also been part of Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research – Evidence Alliance (SPOR-EA). That organization involves and prioritizies affected patients in the research. In 2023, Flórez was named editor-in-chief of Clinical & Public Health Guidelines, the official journal of the Guidelines International Network (GIN). GIN develops and implements clinical practice guidelines.

Anti-trans activism

Flórez was an invited speaker at several SEGM conferences:

New York 2023: “What is a trustworthy guideline?”
ESCAP 2026: “Developing high-quality, systematic, and transparent guidelines to inform clinical care” part of the symposium chaired by Sarah Hohmann and Urh Grošelj titled “Gender dysphoria in minors: Evidence for and development of treatment approaches,” with Zhenya Abbruzzese, Alison Clayton, Riittakerttu Kaltiala, and Florian Zepf
DC 2026: “The trouble with guidelines in gender medicine” with Zhenya Abbruzzese (moderator), Moti Gorin, Kathleen McDeavitt, Florian Zepf, and Ray Zhang

Selected publications by Flórez

Flórez ID (October 2023; published April 2026). References: What is a trustworthy guideline? Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine https://segm.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/Whats_a_Trustworthy_Guideline_References.pdf

Florez ID, Brouwers MC, Kerkvliet K, et al. (2020). Assessment of the quality of recommendations from 161 clinical practice guidelines using the Appraisal
of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation–Recommendations Excellence
(AGREE-REX) instrument shows there is room for improvement. Implement
Sci. 2020;15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-020-01036-5