Women's College Hospital -- Patient Experience Advisor and Project Editor

My relationship with Women's College Hospital began in 2019 while I was studying for my Masters degree. I had pitched a capstone project to the Miss Margaret Robins Archives of Women's College Hospital; an exhibition on the history of transition related surgery in Ontario. A year prior, Women's College Hospital had made headlines by opening the first transgender surgery department at a public hospital in Canada. As part of my research and exhibit development, I connected with Emery Potter, nurse practitioner for the TRS department. Over the years, Emery has invited me to work on various projects and voice my insights as both a researcher and a patient of the program.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the initial exhibition was cancelled. I decided to start this website in part to give it a new home, with the exhibition launching in June 2021. In May of the same year, while recovering from my own surgery at WCH, I was asked to speak to the Women's College Hospital Foundation board, discussing my exhibition and my surgical experience. 

In the years that followed, I was one of many Patient Experience Advisors, previous patients of the program that the department could call upon for any number of projects. These often included interviews with local news anchors. Other times, I would be invited to partake in research discussions, such as in 2024 when the TRS department had a research retreat; I was the only invited guest that did not have a background in medicine or science. 

Frequently, I was asked to add my voice to various academic articles. WCH is a research hospital, and the TRS department has often explored beyond what is currently known about transgender health. In my unique position as both a researcher and a patient, I was able to provide valuable insight into the practices and the ways that the transgender community was discussed. 

One of the most notable projects I joined was a project proposal for an animation that educated trans femme patients about post-surgical dilation. When I joined, the project plan was very disjointed and disorganized. Necessary information like animation software was missing. Through my editorial suggestions and structural reworks, we were able to create a much stronger plan that included all the necessary information to move forward.