History of the Association
WPATH Historian Aaron Devor, PhD, FSSS, FSTHLE
Harry Benjamin, MD
WPATH was originally named the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, after Harry Benjamin, MD (1885-1986). Dr. Benjamin was one of the first physicians to work with gender dysphoric persons. A brief biography of Dr. Benjamin is available at the Magnus Hirschfeld Archiv fur Sexualwissenschaft website.
SexSmart Films, an organization dedicated to the promotion of sexual literacy has posted a video tribute to Dr. Harry Benjamin.
CLICK HERE to view the video.
View the 1979 letter announcing the formation of the HBIGDA and soliciting founding members by clicking here.
Past Wpath leadership
2012-2018 coming soon
2009-2011 | 2007-2009 | 2005-2007
2003-2005 | 2001-2003 | 1999-2001
1997-1999 | 1995-1997 | Before 1995
President
Walter Bockting, PhD received his doctoral degree in psychology from the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (drs. in 1988 and PhD in 1998). He is currently on the faculty of Columbia University. Bockting was on faculty at the Program in Human Sexuality from 1988 - 2012. During his tenure at PHS, he served as a psychologist, professor, and coordinator of transgender health services. He was also on the graduate faculty of Feminist Studies and a co-founder of the University’s Center for CAH and Disorders of Sex Development. His research interests include gender identity development, transgender health, sexuality and the Internet, and HIV prevention, and his work has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, and the Minnesota Department of Health. Bockting is the author of many scientific articles and editor of five books: Gender Dysphoria: Interdisciplinary Approaches in Clinical Management(Haworth Press, 1992), Transgender and HIV: Risks, Prevention, and Care (Haworth Press, 2001), Masturbation as a Means of Achieving Sexual Health (Haworth Press, 2002), Transgender Health and HIV Prevention (Haworth Press, 2005), andGuidelines for Transgender Care (The Haworth Press, 2006). He is also editor of the International Journal of Transgenderism, and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Homosexuality. He is past president of the World Professional Organization for Transgender Health, past president and fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, and vice-president of the North American Federation of Sexuality Organizations.
Officers (2 year terms)
President-Elect: Lin Fraser, EdD
Past-President: Stephen Whittle, OBE
Secretary-Treasurer: Gail Knudson, MD
Board of Directors (4 year terms)
2009-2013
George Brown, MD
Sam Winter, PhD
Kevan Wylie, MB, MD
Marsha Botzer, MS
2007-2011
Katherine Rachlin, PhD
Jamison Green, MFA
Griet De Cuypere, MD
President
Stephen Whittle, OBE, PhD, MA, LLB , BA is Professor of Equalities Law at Manchester Metropolitan University where he has taught for 20 years. In 2007 he was the first trans person, and non-medic to become President of WPATH.
Born and raised in Manchester, in the UK, Stephen transitioned from female to male (FTM) in 1975 aged 19. In 1975, he and a few trans friends set up the Manchester TV/TS group, the first local mixed trans group in the country. He received a degree in Geography in 1981, but throughout the 1970s and 80s he lost numerous jobs when it was discovered he was trans. He qualified in law in 1990, having decided things would only change if trans people became expert in the law and its inadequacies. In 1989 after being part of developing the national transgender support organization SHAFT, which would later become the Gender Trust, he started the UK's FTM Network, which he coordinated until 2008, and which has now provided support to over 3000 members.
In 1992, Stephen was a co-founder of Press For Change (PFC), the UK's transgender lobbying group, and in 2005 was a founder member and later Chair of Transgender Europe. He has advised the UK government on implementing gender recognition legislation and full protection in all aspects of life in the Equality Act 2010. Stephen has since advised on transgender law to the UK, Irish, Italian, Japanese and South African governments & the European Union, the Council of Europe & the European Commission. He advises lawyers and writes briefs, or is an expert witness for courts worldwide. He has authored many papers and several books.
He has received numerous awards for his work, including the American Bar Association’s Stonewall Award (2014), a Honorary Doctorate in Laws from Sussex University (2014), a Lambda Literary Award (2006) for ‘The Transgender Studies Reader’ (with Susan Stryker, 2006, New York: Routledge), the Law Society/Liberty/Justice Human Rights Award (2002) from lawyers in the UK Human Rights Legal Profession, the Frank Kemeny Life Time Achievement Award(2010) from the North American LGBT Bar Association, and in 2005 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE, 2005) in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list for his work on transgender rights.
Officers (2 year terms)
President-Elect: Walter Bockting, PhD
Secretary-Treasurer: George Brown, MD
Board of Directors (4 year terms)
2007-2011
Katherine Rachlin, PhD
Jamison Green, MFA
Griet De Cuypere, MD
2005-2009
George Brown, MD (until 2007*)
Lin Fraser, PhD (since 2007*)
Michael Brownstein, MD
Randi Ettner, MD
Cristina Meriggiola, MD, PhD
*Dr Fraser assumed Dr Brown's term with he was elected to Secretary-Treasurer
President
Stan Monstrey, MD is a professor at the University of Gent. In the past he has served as an Attending Plastic Surgeon, an Assistant Professor, an Associate Professor, and as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University Hospital in Gent. Before that he served as a Consulting Plastic Surgeon at the Academic Hospital of the Free University in Brussels. Dr. Monstrey has served on multiple boards including WPATH, the Dutch Board of Recognition for Plastic Surgeons in Belgium, Collegium Chirurgicum Plasticum Belgium, WPATH (formerly HBIGDA), and others. Dr. Monstrey has co-authored numerous oft-cited journal articles related to transgender surgery, as well as the book, Principles of Transgender Medicine and Surgery (2007), an authoritative text for health care professionals.
Officers (2 year terms)
President-Elect: Stephen Whittle, PhD
Secretary-Treasurer: Griet De Cuypere, MD
Board of Directors (4 year terms)
2005-2009
George Brown, MD (until 2007*)
Lin Fraser, PhD (since 2007*)
Michael Brownstein, MD
Randi Ettner, MD
Cristina Meriggiola, MD, PhD
*Dr Fraser assumed Dr Brown's term with he was elected to Secretary-Treasurer
2003-2007
Walter Bockting, PhD
Jamison Green, MFA
Peggy Cohen-Kettenis, PhD
President
Walter Meyer III, MD is the Kempner Professor of Child Psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. A student at Rice University in chemistry and biology in the 1960s, he went on to medical school at Johns Hopkins and served a pediatric residency at the University of Minnesota from 1968-1970. He then worked for the National Institute of Health and served as faculty at Johns Hopkins. In 1975 he was elected Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Texas Medical Branch. During his first years there he saw hundreds of patients with gender dysphoria and through his experiences wrote several papers concerning long-term clinical outcome of endocrine treatment of gender dysphoria. In 1985 he returned to his studies to increase his knowledge of adult and child psychiatry and in 1991 he and Dr. Eric Avery opened the gender clinic at UTMB and continued to work closely with Dr. Evangeline Emory and Dr. Collier Cole on the endocrinology and psychiatric management of their patients. Dr. Emory, Dr. Cole and Dr. Meyer co-chaired the International Meeting of the HBIGDA in Galveston in 2000. In addition to his term as president he served on the WPATH board for many years and continues to be active in the Association, presenting papers at the major symposia. He continues to see at least two new patients a month and recently has been very much involved in the use of puberty blocking hormone treatment for teenagers with gender identity disorder/gender dysphoria.
Officers (2 year terms)
President: Walter Meyer III, MD
President-Elect: Stan Monstrey, MD
Secretary-Treasurer: Sheila Kirk, MD
Board of Directors (4 year terms)
2003-2007
Walter Bockting, PhD
Jamison Green, MFA
Peggy Cohen-Kettenis, PhD
2001-2005
George Brown, MD
Randi Ettner, PhD
Connie Christine Wheeler, PhD
President
Eli Coleman, PhD, 1999-2003 is professor and director of the Program in Human Sexuality, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health,University of Minnesota Medical School. He is the author of numerous articles and books on compulsive sexual behavior, sexual offenders, sexual orientation, gender dysphoria, chemical dependency, family intimacy, and the psychological and pharmacological treatment of a variety of sexual dysfunctions and disorders. Coleman is the founding editor of the International Journal of Transgenderism and is the founding and current editor of the International Journal of Sexual Health. He is past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (formerly the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association), and the World Association for Sexual Health. He is the current president of the International Academy for Sex Research. He has been a frequent technical consultant on sexual health issues to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (the regional office of WHO). He has been the recipient of numerous awards including the U.S. Surgeon General's Exemplary Service Award for his role as senior scientist on Surgeon General's Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior, released in 2001. He was given the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and the Alfred E. Kinsey Award by the Mid continent Region of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality in 2001. In 2007 he was awarded the Gold Medal for his lifetime contributions to the field of sexual health by the World Association for Sexual Health and was appointed the first endowed Chair in Sexual Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Officers (2 year terms)
President-Elect: Walter Meyer III, MD
Secretary-Treasurer: Sheila Kirk, MD
Board of Directors (4 year terms)
2001-2005
George Brown, MD
Randi Ettner, PhD
Connie Christine Wheeler, PhD
1999-2003
Louis JG Gooren, MD
Walter Bockting, PhD
Leah Cahan Schaefer, EdD
Stan J Monstrey, MD
President
Alice Webb, DHS, 1999*
Eli Coleman, PhD, 1999-2003
*Dr Coleman assumed the Presidency when Dr Webb resigned due to illness
Officers (2 year terms)
President-Elect: Eli Coleman, PhD
Secretary-Treasurer: Connie Christine Wheeler, PhD
Board of Directors (4 year terms)
1999-2003
Louis JG Gooren, MD
Walter Bockting, PhD
Leah Cahan Schaefer, EdD
Stan J Monstrey, MD
1997-2001
J Joris Hage, MD, PhD
Sheila Kirk, MD
Jude Patton, CMHC, CMFT, PA-C
President
Richard Green, JD is a retired Professor of Psychological Medicine, Imperial College, London, and was research director at the Charing Cross Hospital Gender Identity Clinic. He served as a Professor of Psychology at UCLA and a co-editor of the ground-breaking Transsexualism and Sex-Reassignmentanthologies. He holds an AB from Syracuse University and a MD from Johns Hopkins. Over his long career he has been highly involved in challenging public and scholarly perception of transgenderism. He was the founding president of the International Academy of Sex Research as well as a founding committee member of HBIGDA and one of the authors of the first Standards of Care. In 1992 he published Sexual Science and the Law, a review of various sexual fields and their legal situation in both the US and the UK. From 1971-2002 he was the editor of the Archives of Sexual Behavior
Richard Green, MD JD, a founder of the Harry Benjamin Int'l Gender Dysphoria Ass'n (precursor to WPATH) in 1979, has died in London on April 6th, 2019. He was 82. Click below to view the view his obituary in The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/15/richard-green-obituary
Officers (2 year terms)
President-Elect: Alice Webb, PhD
Secretary-Treasurer: Connie Christine Wheeler, PhD
Board of Directors (4 year terms)
1997-2001
J Joris Hage, MD, PhD
Sheila Kirk, MD
Jude Patton, CMHC, CMFT, PA-C
1995-1999
Peggy Cohen-Kettenis, PhD
Eli Coleman, PhD
Donald Laub, MD
Leah Schaefer, EdD
President
Friedmann Pfaefflin, MD
Officers (2 year terms)
President-Elect: Richard Green, MD, JD
Secretary-Treasurer: Walter Meyer III, MD
Board of Directors (4 year terms)
1995-1999
Peggy Cohen-Kettenis, PhD
Eli Coleman, PhD
Donald Laub, MD
Leah Schaefer, EdD
1993-1997
George Brown, MD
Judy Van Maasdam, MS
J Joris Hage, MD, PhD (since 1995*)
Friedemann Pfafflin, MD (until 1995*)
*Dr Hage took the place of Dr Pfafflin when the latter assumed the office of President
Leah Schaefer, EdD 1991-1995 was a founding member of HBIGDA, and a pioneer in the field of gender and sexuality. She served two terms as The Association's president and co-authored the first five versions of the Standards of Care. She received an EdD from Columbia University Teacher's College, where she wrote her ground-breaking dissertation later published in 1973 as Women and Sex: Sexual Experiences and Reactions of a Group of Thirty Women as Told to a Female Psychotherapist. Leah maintained a large private practice in New York City, and safeguarded the Harry Benjamin archives for many years. In 2007 she, along with executor to the Harry Benjamin estate Dr Charles Ihlenfield, donated a substantial portion of these archives to the Kinsey Institute. Possessing of a lovely singing voice, Ms Schaefer also performed frequently as a jazz singer in a trio called The Barries. She passed away at the age of 92 on January 26, 2013.
Jan Walinder, MD 1989-1991
Aaron T. Bilowitz, MD 1987-1989
Ira B. Pauly, MD 1985-1987 retired in 2010 from a long career as a psychiatrist and researcher. He served as professor and chairman of the University of Nevada's Department of Psychiatry and Behavior Services, and prior that was on faculty at the University of Oregon Medical school. In addition to serving on the American Psychiatric Association's subcommittee on GID, he is credited for undertaking the first global review of the published outcome data on transsexualism in 1965. During this time he also collaborated with Dr Harry Benjamin. Dr Pauly also holds the distinction of being in the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame for his college-era skill in football and rugby.
Milton T. Edgerton, MD 1983-1985 has played a pivotal role in the history of plastic surgery at Johns Hopkins. After earning his medical degree at Johns Hopkins and serving as captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, Dr. Edgerton returned to Johns Hopkins in 1951, completed a residency in surgery and, following his term as the first official resident in the division of plastic surgery, he became board certified in both surgery and plastic surgery that same year. While serving under Dr. Alfred Blalock, Dr. Edgerton established the Division of Plastic Surgery and also created the Johns Hopkins Plastic Surgery Training Program, which he directed until 1971. Dr. Edgerton served as the first full-time chief of plastic surgery and plastic surgeon-in-chief, in addition to holding the position of professor of plastic surgery. After 16 years at Hopkins, he became chairman of the Division of Plastic Surgery and then chair of the Department of Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Virginia Medical Center where he remained for the duration of his career.
Donald R. Laub, MD 1981-1983 is a plastic surgeon and the second president of WPATH (née The Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association). Don was Associate Professor (now Adjunct Clinical Professor) of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine. In the course of research, teaching, and patient care for gender dysphoria, he studied whether the condition labeled 302.85 DSM-5 was a bonafide condition appropriate for study at a major university. Specifically, it was the issue of whether a treatment for this condition was helpful. In the course of this patient care, research and teaching, he managed about 2,000 patients, himself evaluating and treating, along with other members of the Gender Dysphoria Program Committee. Many were accepted into the program which was run both by Stanford University and the Palo Alto Gender Dysphoria Program, of which he was the President. The committee consisted of faculty members, behavioral scientists, social workers and plastic surgeons. This committee drew heavily from multidisciplinary expertise in urology, gynecology, endocrinology, general surgery, and consultations on most patients. In the course of surgery, he invented and popularized three operations: rectosigmoidvaginoplasty (the "Rolls Royce Vagina”), metoidioplasty (using female tissues with hormones to form male structures), post-modern phalloplasty (fasciocutaneus fat and skin, from the abdomen tubularized to form the shaft of the penis). It was made sensitive using a microsurgical nerve transfer from the erotic nerve in the lower abdomen. The placement of a removable silicone urinary assist device (UAD) and also an implanted erectile device, completed the final two functions of urination and sexual intercourse. He did this work without a grant from anyone. In teaching, the experience was helpful to plastic surgery residents and visiting faculty because a very large number of basic plastic surgery techniques were taught. He organized two international gender conferences at Stanford University and two others in Bordeaux, France, and New York City, New York. He was a member of the organizational committee to found The Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria (HBIGDA). He was one of the authors of the Standards of Care (SOC) developed by HBIGDA for the management of gender dysphoria. He presented over 50 times at the HBIGDA biennial symposia. HBIGDA, now WPATH, contributed the almost unique method of utilizing different opinions. Individual presentations were by different practitioners in different disciplines. This interchange between medical and psychological disciplines functioned well. These opinions provided the basis for a never-to-be-forgotten set of principles for everyone involved. In retrospective review, we found that the patients were not harmed. The sense of taking another person’s problem as your own and becoming long-term friends with that person carried out the basic mandates of Uncle Hippocrates. Hippocrates said that compassion is the taking of the other person’s problem onto yourself. The spirit of the HBIGDA carried out this definition of compassion.
Paul A. Walker, PhD 1979-1981, HBIGDA's founding president ran a private practice in San Francisco, serving as psychologist for transgender patients for many years. He began a sex offender treatment program at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX, and ran the Gender Clinic there. After receiving a doctorate in social psychology from the Univesrity of Rochester in 1976, he performed research at Johns Hopkins in collaboration with John Money. Dr Walker passed away in 1991.
If you have further information or would like to make a correction to our biography section, please contact wpath@wpath.org.