Dr. Yvonne Gomez-Carrion has been honored by the Massachusetts Medical Society as the 2018 recipient of the Society’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health Award, an honor recognizing an individual who has made outstanding contributions to LGBT health.
Dr. Gomez-Carrion, a Newton resident, is an Assistant Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Ob/Gyn resident surgical service at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Dr. Gomez-Carrion is renowned for her contributions to improvements in health care for the transgender community. Transgender patients and their partners flock to her practice to receive non-judgmental and affirming health care.
This journey began in 2006, fueled by an interaction with a transgender man who had sought treatment necessary to change his birth certificate and had been denied treatment on multiple occasions. Dr. Gomez-Carrion was able to help and, subsequently provided training for BIDMC staff in the OB-GYN, radiology and the perioperative departments. She worked with the leadership at BIDMC to assure each patient, if admitted after their gender confirming surgery, be assigned to a private room.
“Transgender people face many obstacles during daily life,” said colleague Dr. Jonathan Litt of Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “They should not have to worry about discrimination or mistreatment in with their health care.
“Unfortunately, this is not the reality for many transgender individuals. They are consistently mistreated and maligned. It is to the point that many of them will not seek medical care out of fear. Dr. Gomez-Carrion provides a haven for transgender individuals. Her office is known in the transgender community as a warm welcoming place where they will be safe and well-cared for.”
Dr. Gomez-Carrion earned her MD from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed her residency training in Ob/Gyn at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. In 2014, she received the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Humanitarianism Award and 2017 Harvard Medical School’s Senior S. Robert Stone award for excellence in teaching Harvard medical students. – massmd.org
