Transgender New Yorkers Face a Shortage of Doctors to Meet Their Needs

When Mahogany Phillips walked into Mt. Sinai's Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery for her appointment, her doctors acted like they had spotted a celebrity.

"Look at those heels!" exclaimed one.

"You're so beautiful," said another.

Phillips is one of about 350 transgender patients the lower Manhattan center has treated this year. It is the only comprehensive transgender medicine clinic in New York City, with some 500 people on its waiting list.

Dr. Jess Ting is the center’s head surgeon and one of only 40 surgeons in the U.S. who perform gender confirming surgery. He previously worked in plastic surgery at Mt. Sinai.

"What was surprising to me the most was how life-changing these operations are and how desperate our patients are to have surgery,” Dr. Ting said. “One of our patients committed suicide while waiting. And that just drove it home for me." 

In response, Dr. Ting said, he joined with Mt. Sinai to start a fellowship program this summer that would train doctors in both transgender psychiatry and surgery. Dr. Bella Avanessian is the program’s first surgical fellow. She had been looking for a trans medicine training program for more than two years, she said. Before the Mt. Sinai appointment, no one was available to teach her. 

Phillips was at the center to have her bandages removed following a nose feminization procedure. She lay back on an examination table as Drs. Ting and Avanessian used tweezers to remove the beige taping. They directed her to a mirror across the room.

"Oh my god! It looks like Christy Turlington's nose,” she said. “It's so perfect.”

“It’s beautiful,” Dr. Ting said.

Doctors will remove the last of Phillips’ stitches on her next visit. Until then, she said, she’ll be proud to wear the bandages: They're a sign that she has made it.