Standardized patients are important for training and safety because it gives students an opportunity to get a feel for human interaction . Practice with diverse standardized patients at the STEPS Center will translate to real world work , Miller explained .
New Medical Director of the WVU Medicine Children ’ s Gender and Sexual Development Clinic Offers Support and Care to Gender Diverse Youth
WVU Medicine Children ’ s Hospital recently hired Dr . Kacie Kidd as Medical Director of the Gender & Sexual Development Multidisciplinary Clinic . In this role , which is the only position of its kind in the state , Dr . Kidd works in a clinical and research setting to offer support and care to gender diverse young people and their families .
Dr . Kidd sees children , adolescents , and young adults who are questioning their gender identity or who identify as transgender , nonbinary , or gender diverse , ages 3 to 26 years old .
West Virginia is estimated to have the highest number of gender diverse youth per capita in the country , but previously there were no multidisciplinary clinics for youth in our state . Dr . Kidd wanted to change that and help gender diverse young people with support and care .
As a West Virginian and trainee at the WVU School of Medicine , “ I had the privilege of meeting and caring for transgender , nonbinary , and gender diverse patients , but often had to send them out of state for services ,” said Dr . Kidd , M . D . an assistant professor of Pediatrics . “ I wanted gender diverse West Virginians to have resources just like young people in other states , which is why we developed this multidisciplinary clinic .”
Dr . Kidd works in the clinic alongside a child and adolescent psychiatrist and a therapist to provide care to patients and their families . The care that she and her colleagues provide ranges from helping young people explore who they are , helping parents explore what having a gender diverse child means for them and their family , engaging with school systems and consideration of medical interventions .
“ This clinic is important because gender diverse young people face significant health disparities compared to cisgender peers and that includes higher rates of anxiety , depression and suicide attempt ,” Dr . Kidd said . “ But we know when young people are
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