The WPATH Student Initiative (WSI) provides opportunities for graduate students to become active in the work of WPATH, a multidisciplinary professional association which works on behalf of transgender people around the world. Student members serve as liaisons to committees and to the Board of Directors. Members of the Student Initiative have access to a mentoring program and a database of training programs. The WSI also works to support student research by awarding small research grants and fostering opportunities for students to present their research at WPATH and other transgender-related conferences across the world.
Student members of WPATH are afforded numerous benefits to enrich their career development and opportunities to influence the field of transgender health.
Student members are individuals enrolled in a graduate program who, upon graduation, would be eligible for professional membership in the association. Areas of study include law, medicine, social work, counseling, psychology, speech and language therapy, public health, family studies, psychotherapy, marriage and family therapy, women/gender/queer studies, sexology, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, pharmacology and other academic and applied disciplines that contribute, or have the potential to contribute, to the wellbeing of transgender individuals and to the field of transgender health.
Student membership is available at $35 (US)* per year and requires proof of current enrollment as a graduate student through by uploading one of the following documents:
To join, please complete the WPATH Membership Application.
*For the current 2022 fiscal year, low-income economies are defined as those with a GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method, of $1,045 or less in 2020; lower middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between $1,046 and $4,095; upper middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between $4,096 and $12,695 - click here for 2022 fiscal year list.
WPATH Student Initiative (WSI) Election Results
On behalf of the WPATH Student Initiative and the Board of Directors, we want to thank all the outstanding candidates for putting their names forward to run for WPATH Student Initiative (WSI) Vice Chair and for their willingness to serve WPATH. Please note, only student members were allowed to vote in this election.
Based on the results of the election, your 2022 WPATH Student Initiative Vice Chair is:
Florence Chenel, BA (she/they) (University of Sherbrooke)
The Vice Chair will spend the first year of their time working with the 2022-2023 Chair of the WSI and Student Representative to the WPATH Board of Directors, Casey Orozco-Poore, BS. At the beginning of 2024, a new Vice Chair will be elected, and Florence Chenel will take on the role of WSI Chair and Student Representative to the Board of Directors.
Congratulations, Florence!
Co-Chairs/BOD Liaisons:
Casey Orozco-Poore (they/them)
Chair of the WPATH Student Initiative
Casey Orozco-Poore (they / them) is a 4th year medical student at Harvard Medical School, and current UCLA South American Program in HIV Research (SAPHIR) Fellow in Lima, Peru. They are carrying out research and material support projects with trans communities in Lima on the themes of resilience, solidarity, and resistance, particularly within art, activism, and mutual aid. They have also been studying the neurobiological risk of “nerve sparing” clitoral surgeries performed on intersex children, and mobilize this research for shifts in hospital and public health policy. They plan to become a child neurologist, with an emphasis on affirming neurodiversity and non-carceral models of brain and mind healthcare.
Florence Chenel, BA (she/they)
Vice Chair of the WPATH Student Initiative