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Amy Tishelman and transgender people

Amy Tishelman is a conservative American psychologist best known for working with gender diverse youth. Tishelman has become a favored source for journalists promoting the ex-transgender movement and a leading voice in a faction of therapists who have “concerns” that affirmative models of care for trans youth do not have enough gatekeeping. Tishelman believes trans people and their families should pay psychologists before getting access to medical transition options.

Background

Amy Coopersmith Tishelman was born in October 1956. Tishelman earned a doctorate from West Virginia University in 1993.

Tishelman was an assistant professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton from 1988 to 1992. Following this, Tishelman then joined Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) and worked there for nearly three decades. Tishelman held several leadership roles, including Director of Child Protection Clinical Services, Director of Training and Research in the Child Protection Program, and later Director of Clinical Research for the Behavioral Health, Endocrinology, and Urology (BE-U) Program and the Gender Multispecialty Service (GeMS). Tishelman’s work at BCH focused extensively on child maltreatment, interpersonal violence, trauma, and care for youth with gender diversity and sex trait variations.

In parallel with these clinical roles, Tishelman joined the faculty of Boston College’s Department of Psychology and Neuroscience in 1993 as a part-time faculty member, later becoming a Research Associate Professor. Tishelman also served as a senior attending psychologist at Boston Children’s and as an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

Tishelman was awarded several National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants as multiple principal investigator (MPI) or co-investigator, investigating well-being and gender development in children and young adults, including those with intersex variations. Tishelman co-authored clinical reports, contributed to international standards of care in transgender health, and co-chaired a national task force on differences of sex development.

In the 2010s and early 2020s, Tishelman was featured by the NIH Sexual and Gender Minority office (2022) and was selected by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to lead development of child-focused care standards.

Lawsuit

In 2020, Tishelman filed a lawsuit against Boston Children’s Hospital over treatment while serving research director of GeMS. In the complaint, Tishelman alleged that supervisors had engaged in age and sex discrimination. Tishelman was reportedly underpaid relative to male colleagues and faced demeaning treatment for various accomplishments and external professional activities.

Tishelman reported that BCH ignored internal complaints to human resources in 2020 and discouraged Tishelman from raising concerns about workplace practices. In 2021, BCH terminated Tishelman’s employment, citing alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for unauthorized access to patient records. Tishelman acknowledged accessing another psychologist’s records but said it was to demonstrate that late report filing was a common issue caused by workload pressures.

The case went to trial in late 2024. A jury in Suffolk Superior Court found that BCH had retaliated against Tishelman following the discrimination complaint, although it did not find sufficient evidence of discrimination itself. The jury did not conclude that the retaliation was reckless or intentional, so punitive damages were not awarded. However, BCH was ordered to pay Tishelman approximately $1.87 million in back pay, future lost earnings, emotional distress, and interest.

Advocacy

In 2023, Tishelman was a signatory to the Statement Regarding Laws Restricting Gender Affirming Medical Care.

References

Damiano, Mike (December 20, 2024). A leader in trans health has become a critic of the field she helped shape. In a Q&A, she explains why. Boston Globe https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/12/20/metro/boston-childrens-transgender-clinic-former-director-concerns/

Damiano, Mike (December 3, 2024). ‘A head scratcher’: Families push back against claim that Boston clinic for trans children is ‘reckless.’ Boston Globe https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/12/03/metro/transgender-medicine-boston-childrens-families-gems/

Alder, Steve (November 14, 2024). Boston Children’s Hospital Ordered to Pay $1.9 Million in Discrimination Lawsuit. The HIPAA Journal https://www.hipaajournal.com/boston-childrens-hospital-1-9-million-discrimination-lawsuit/

Selected publications by Tishelman

Hidalgo MA, Chen D, Tishelman AC, et al (2024). Childhood gender diversity and mental health: protocol for the longitudinal, observational Gender Journey Project. JMIR Res Protoc. 2024;13:e55558. https://doi.org/10.2196/55558

Tishelman AC, Rider GN (2023). Assessment of gender diverse children: incorporating the Standard of Care 8th Edition. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2023;32(4):719–730. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2023.05.008

Tishelman AC, et al (2023). Mental health and gender affirmation outcomes among transgender youth prior to hormone initiation. J Adolesc Health. 2023; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.06.022

Chen D, Tishelman AC, et al (2023). Psychosocial functioning in transgender youth after 2 years of hormones. N Engl J Med. 2023;388(23):2196–2206. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmoa2206297

Chen D, Tishelman AC, et al (2021). Psychosocial characteristics of transgender youth seeking gender-affirming medical treatment: baseline findings from the Trans Youth Care Study. J Adolesc Health. 2021;68(6):1104–1111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.07.033

Quinn GP, Tishelman AC, Chen D, Nahata L (2021). Reproductive health risks and clinician practices with gender diverse adolescents and young adults. Andrology. 2021;9(6):1689–1697. https://doi.org/10.1111/andr.13026

Tishelman AC, et al (2020). Prepubertal social gender transitions. In: Pediatric Gender Identity: Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender & Gender Diverse Youth. Springer; 2020: (chapter). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429263910-13

Chen D, Tishelman AC, et al (2020). A comparison of demographic and psychosocial characteristics between transgender youth enrolling vs not enrolling in a multisite study. J Adolesc Health. 2020;67(5):772–780. https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2020.0060

Tishelman AC, Sutter ME, Chen D, et al (2019). Health care provider perceptions of fertility preservation barriers and challenges with transgender patients and families: qualitative responses to an international survey. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2019;36(3):579–588. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-018-1395-y

Chen D, Edwards-Leeper L, Stancin T, Tishelman AC (2018). Advancing the practice of pediatric psychology with transgender youth: state of the science, ongoing controversies, and future directions. Clin Pract Pediatr Psychol. 2018;6(1):73–83. https://doi.org/10.1037/cpp0000229

Polderman, T.J.C., Kreukels, B.P.C., Irwig, M.S. et al. The Biological Contributions to Gender Identity and Gender Diversity: Bringing Data to the Table. Behav Genet 48, 95–108 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-018-9889-z

Nahata, L., Tishelman, A. C., Caltabellotta, N. M., & Quinn, G. P. (2017). Low Fertility Preservation Utilization Among Transgender Youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 61(1), 40–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.12.012

Shumer DE, Tishelman AC (2015). The role of assent in the treatment of transgender adolescents. Int J Transgend. 2015;16(2):97–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2015.1075929

Tishelman AC, Kaufman R, Edwards-Leeper L, Mandel FH, Shumer DE, Spack NP (2015). Serving transgender youth: challenges, dilemmas and clinical examples. Prof Psychol Res Pract. 2015;46(1):37–45. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037490

Hidalgo MA, Ehrensaft D, Tishelman AC, et al. (2013). The gender affirmative model: what we know and what we aim to learn. Hum Dev. 2013;56(5):285–290. https://doi.org/10.1159/000355235

Resources

Boston College (bc.edu)

  • Amy Tishelman
  • bc.edu/bc-web/schools/morrissey/departments/psychology-neuroscience/people/part-time-faculty/amy-tishelman.html

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Professor Watchlist (professorwatchlist.org)

Google Scholar (scholar.google.com)