The Gender Affirmation providers at The GW Medical Faculty Associates are part of the Sexual Health and Gender Affirmation Center (SAGA Center). Our goal is to support trans and gender expansive patients that desire medical or surgical assistance for their transition as well as prenatal care, preventative services, and healthcare maintenance.
Our providers focus on trauma-informed care and inclusive approaches to meet the needs of our patients. While there are some transition-related services that we are currently not able to offer through GWU, we will help you navigate the referral process and will collaborate with other specialists to ensure the most comprehensive care.
Conditions We Address:
- Gender affirming hormone therapy initiation and maintenance
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We use an informed consent approach for gender affirming hormonal therapy initiation, but we may not always be able to provide a hormone prescription at the first visit. We believe a robust relationship between provider and patient is important before embarking on a medically assisted transition. If you already have a relationship with a mental health provider, then they can provide a letter of support for your gender affirming hormonal therapy initiation, which can help to expedite when we can write a prescription for hormones. Follow-up visits may be in-person or via telehealth depending on your specific needs.
- Gender affirming surgery
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Our providers perform minimally invasive hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), and we can provide referrals for chest and breast surgery, also known as top surgery. We also provide referrals for vaginoplasty (creation of a vagina) or bottom surgery. We can also address postoperative care needs for patients that have undergone vaginoplasty. We currently do not have referral options for phalloplasty or metoidioplasty (creation of a phallus), but we do plan to expand our services to include these procedures.
- Routine healthcare maintenance
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- For people born with a cervix, uterus, Fallopian tubes, and/or ovaries, we provide the full spectrum of routine healthcare maintenance in a trauma-informed and gender affirming way. This includes but is not limited to sexually transmitted infection testing, contraception counseling, cervical cancer screening (Pap smears), breast/chest cancer screening (mammogram), colon cancer screening (colonoscopy), and bone density evaluation.
- For people born with a penis, prostate, and/or testes, we provide routine sexually transmitted infection testing, breast/chest cancer screening (mammogram), and colon cancer screening (colonoscopy).
- For services that we cannot offer ourselves, we are dedicated to finding appropriate and gender-inclusive providers to whom to refer our patients for the best possible patient experience.
- Pregnancy and birth services
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- We hope to become the leading site for transgender and gender expansive patients, who are delivering a baby in the DMV area. You can have your prenatal care through the SAGA Center, so your prenatal care providers will be the same providers with whom you already have a relationship for your transition-related and/or preventative care needs.
- This is an optional but highly recommended aspect of your care, and we have relationships with fertility specialists in our area.
What to Expect
Your visit will take place at our 2300 M Street location in Suite 110. This clinic space is specially designed to accommodate patients of all gender identities, and all staff have received training for how to treat transgender and gender expansive patients with the respect that they deserve.
Your first visit will include a review of your medical, surgical, and gender/sexual histories. We may perform a physical examination with your informed consent. Then, we will engage in shared decision making about the aspects of your care that you would like to pursue for gender affirmation or for routine healthcare maintenance. Because we only have 30 minutes for initial visits, we may not be able to address all your healthcare needs at the initial visit. We will therefore schedule follow-up depending on your individual needs. There will also be telehealth options for established patients to better accommodate your schedule and lifestyle needs. At least one in-person visit will be required per year.
Future Goals
We are a new clinic, and with any new system, there are always areas for improvement. As we continue to bring more patients into our practice, we hope to also bring plastic surgeons, medical endocrinologists, mental health providers, and social workers onto our team as well. We also hope to expand our partnerships with community organizations to better serve your social needs as well. There will be optional opportunities to participate in research so that we can also contribute to improving healthcare for trans and gender-expansive patients at the level of the larger scientific community.
Resources
To schedule an appointment, please call: 202-741-2500 and ask for a SAGA Center consult!