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School partners with World Professional Association for Transgender Health
The University of Kansas Medical Center operates an “Adult Comprehensive Gender Care and Surgery” fellowship that sponsors participants to join a global transgender organization, according to a recent report by The Daily Wire.
As part of the fellowship program, the federally funded school partners with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, encouraging fellows to become members of the organization. WPATH’s goal is to “promote a high quality of care for transsexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming individuals internationally,” according to its website.
The controversial organization is known for supporting gender-affirming care for minors. For example, it condemned a recent executive order protecting minors from mutilating procedures.
The purpose of the fellowship is to train medical professionals in a variety of gender‑related procedures, including surgeries. These include vaginoplasty, phalloplasty, chest and facial surgeries, genital reconstruction, body contouring, and related care such as voice training, according to the Daily Wire.
Dr. Kurt Miceli, chief medical officer at Do No Harm, condemned the fellowship in an email interview with The College Fix.
“Residency and fellowship programs are expected to provide rigorous, professional training environments free from ideological pressure, safeguarding objective academic standards that support safe, high‑quality medical practice,” he said.
He also found the potential ideological bias of a partnership with WPATH to be troubling.
He said, “ideological agendas have no place in training the next generation of physicians, and formally aligning trainees with a contested advocacy organization risks undermining that expectation.”
This partnership comes at a time when Kansas has taken a firm stance against medical “transitions” for minors.
In February, Kansas legislators overrode Governor Kelly’s veto and passed the Help Not Harm Act. This legislation restricts the use of state funds to promote “gender-affirming care” and prohibits the medical “transitioning” of minors.
Miceli said the act, “along with similar laws now enacted in more than half of U.S. states,” offers a “clear judgement” that is “consistent with the scientific evidence.”
It proclaims “that puberty blockers, cross‑sex hormones, and surgical interventions for minors struggling with gender dysphoria lack demonstrated benefit and carry significant, often lifelong risks.”
The medical doctor also advocated for broader congressional action, such as the Chloe Cole Act currently being debated, as “these interventions continue in states without such protections.”
The Chloe Cole Act, reintroduced to Congress in February by Congressman Bob Onder, would protect minors from “gender -affirming” puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries.
Dr. Miceli also proposed an alternative approach to radical gender procedures.
“We can far better serve these vulnerable children by adopting the approach taken across many European countries, where health authorities have prioritized robust psychosocial support and developmentally grounded psychological care, not radical medical and surgical interventions,” he said.
He added gender ideology poses a threat to the integrity of the medical field as a whole.
“Sustaining the profession’s integrity requires preserving the critical inquiry, evidentiary rigor, and open debate essential not only to training physicians but also to their ongoing professional development,” he said.
To restore faith in our medical professionals, “medical education must remain committed to rigorous, ideology‑free training that prioritizes critical thinking, evidence-based practice, and patient wellbeing over contested agendas.”
In response to a request for comment, Kay Hawes, a spokeswoman for KUMC said that the school would “pass on this opportunity.”
Recently, KUMC appears to have hidden or deleted the page about the fellowship from their website.
