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Paula M. Neira, JD, MSN, RN, CEN graduated with distinction from the United States Naval Academy in 1985. A Surface Warfare Officer, she served as a regular and reserve officer including serving in mine warfare combat during Operation Desert Storm. After leaving the Navy in 1991, she began her career as a registered nurse. She is certified in emergency nursing and focused her career on adult emergency care and trauma resuscitation.
From 2008-2016, Paula served as the Nurse Educator in Emergency Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She also served as the co-chair of the Johns Hopkins Transgender Medicine Executive Taskforce. In November 2016, she became the Clinical Program Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender Health. An attorney and member of the Maryland bar since 2001, Paula was a leader in the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. For more than a decade, she has been recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts on transgender military service. As part of her role at Hopkins, she lectures nationally on the need for improved transgender cultural competence in healthcare. In 2015, she made naval history by becoming the first transgender Navy veteran to have her discharge documentation updated to reflect her correct name by order of the Navy. In 2016, the Secretary of the Navy named her to be the co-sponsor of the USNS HARVEY MILK (T-AO-206).
Opening Symposium Keynote