Gay and Bisexual Men's Health

In addition to the health issues all men face, gay men and men who have sex with men (MSM) have an increased risk of depression, anxiety disorders and suicide. Research also shows they are more likely to smoke and to abuse alcohol and drugs. In addition, they have a higher frequency of HIV, STIs and HPV, which can lead to an increased risk for certain types of cancers.

Due to embarrassment, fear of rejection or confidentially issues, many gay men and MSM put off preventive care. Ochsner provides a safe, welcoming an environment where all men can get the state-of-the-art care you deserve.

Ochsner Services for Gay Men and MSM Include:

• LGBTQ+ primary care
• Cancer and infectious disease screenings
• Immunizations
• Behavioral health services
• Specialty care
• HIV prEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis)
• PEP (Post Exposure Prophylaxis)
• HIV care
• STD care

Lesbian and Bisexual Health

Lesbian and bisexual women and women who have sex with women require the same routine health care maintenance as all women. Unfortunately, they are also at increased risk for certain medical and mental health conditions, including:

• Breast cancer
• Cancer of the reproductive organs 
• Alcohol and substance abuse
• Smoking-related illnesses
• Obesity
• Heart disease 
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 
• STIs
• HIV

Ochsner Services for Lesbian and bisexual woman and WSW include:

• LGBTQ+ primary care
• LGBTQ+ gynecologic care
• Endocrinology and metabolism care
• Behavioral health services
• Specialty care

LGBTQ+ Youth

Children and adolescents can thrive and maximize their development in safe and supportive environments. However, many youth with diverse sexual and gender identities face barriers to receiving the same safety and support as their peers. We know that the health needs of LGBTQ+ youth can differ from that of their peers. Sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender identity also are often challenging topics for youth and their families to discuss openly. Children and adolescents who are or are questioning whether they may be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender are at much greater risk of:

• Experiencing rejection, loss, and isolation from family, peers, and community members
• Being the victims of bullying, harassment, discrimination, and physical violence
• Enduring psychological distress including depression, anxiety, and gender dysphoria
• Engaging in unhealthy behaviors and/or being bullied or victimized
• Engaging in self-harm and suicide at a higher incidence
• For these and many other reasons, both physical and behavioral health care are essential for LGBTQ+ youth and their families.

Services offered

• Behavioral health services
• Specialty care

Pediatric Gender-Affirming Services

The Multidisciplinary Gender Clinic involves medical and behavioral health professionals that work together to provide education, support, and create individualized treatment plans for our patients and their families.

Medical Services: Our medical provider is a pediatric endocrinologist who specializes in care for transgender and gender diverse youth. The role of this provider is to evaluate and consult with families on issues related to pubertal development and consideration of appropriateness and timing of various gender affirming medical interventions. What to expect from the visit:

• Work closely with mental health provider to deliver comprehensive care
• Individualized care tailored to the patient and family
• Some of the medications we prescribe when indicated include puberty blockers, estrogen and testosterone.

Pediatric Behavioral Health Services: Our clinic includes a pediatric psychologist who specializes in care for transgender and gender diverse youth. Behavioral health services are included because of the unique psychosocial challenges facing these youth. The role of this provider is to help the family explore understanding and communication related to gender in the family as well as to evaluate for presence of other psychosocial challenges that may benefit from intervention. The types of services include:

• Initial Behavioral Health Intake – All patients new to the multidisciplinary gender clinic meet with one of our behavioral health providers for a general psychosocial screening. The goal of this intake is to gather history relevant to gender development and psychosocial functioning and identify potential behavioral health and supportive service needs. Gender-affirming care involves treating the whole person and supporting them through all aspects of transition including social, psychological, legal, and medical.
• Referral for Behavioral Health Support – The process of gender exploration, coming out, and transitioning is both rewarding and, at times, challenging. Patients and families undergoing this journey often find it beneficial to meet with a behavioral health provider for help with improving social support as well as understanding and planning the timing of steps towards transition, and addressing psychological distress and overall functioning. Our clinic has established and is committed to growing a network of affirming behavioral health providers both within Ochsner and the larger community across the Gulf South.
• Monitoring of Psychosocial Progress and Needs – Our clinic staff will conduct regular screenings and monitoring of psychosocial functioning to identify new needs that may develop throughout the transition process, and to ensure their treatment goals are being met by communicating with their outpatient therapy providers.

Adult Transgender Health

Access to quality health care has always been a challenge for transgender individuals who, like everybody else, deserve leading-edge, compassionate care. Along with the health problems faced by the entire population, this community is also at increased risk for certain medical and mental health conditions, including:

• High blood pressure, diabetes, liver dysfunction, and high cholesterol
• Obesity
• Heart disease 
• Tobacco use
• Cancers
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 
• STDs
• HIV

Service offered:

• Primary care
  • Routine health care maintenance, surveillance of chronic medical conditions, access to providers for acute medical visits, smoking cessation.
• Gynecologic care
  • Routine gynecologic care including cancer screening, pelvic examinations, management of chronic or acute gynecologic conditions, contraceptive counseling and management, fertility consultation and treatment, evaluation and treatment of sexual pain. Postsurgical care for transgender women
• Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)
  • Initiation, maintenance, and surveillance of cross-sex hormones.
• Surgical services
  • Referral within and outside referral to providers who perform gender confirmation procedures.
• Cancer screenings
• Behavioral Health
  • Diagnosis of gender dysphoria, treatment and management of other comorbid conditions (depression, anxiety, PTSD), management of substance abuse problems.
• Obesity services
  • Multidisciplinary approaches to weight loss and maintenance, referral to bariatric medicine.
• Voice training

Transgender Multidisciplinary Clinic

Ochsner offers healthcare services at Ochsner Health Center - Tchoupitoulas. This clinic houses providers who understand the health needs of LGBTQ+ patients, and access to specialists with expertise in LGBTQ+ care.

Our Gender Clinic offers multidisciplinary health care to patients seeking hormonal and/or surgical reassignment of gender. Appointments are made on an individual basis, and specialists meet to coordinate care when indicated.

The Gender Clinic's services include:

• Initiation and monitoring of hormonal reassignment of gender, done in coordination with other supporting medical professionals
• Affirming primary medical care
• Referrals to medical specialists that offer gender affirming surgeries including:
  • Masculinizing/Defeminizing Chest Reconstructive Surgery (Mastectomy)
  • Male Hysterectomy
  • Orchiectomy (Surgical Removal of the Testes)
  • Facial Feminization Procedures
  • Vaginoplasty (Female Genital Reconstructive Surgery)
  • Metoidioplasty and phalloplasty
• Voice training
• Being your advocate and writing letters in support for gender marker changes and necessary procedures.

We employ an informed consent model for our adult patients to decrease barriers to care and increase access to hormone access for the trans community.

We strive to ensure our patients receive quality care through a direct and long-term relationship with their chosen provider and health care team. Our teams are respectful of, and responsive to, individual patient preferences and goals.

Ochsner offers healthcare services at Ochsner Health Center - Tchoupitoulas. This clinic houses providers who understand the health needs of LGBTQ+ patients, and access to specialists with expertise in LGBTQ+ care.

Gender-Affirming Services Offered by Ochsner Providers Include:

• Pediatric endocrine and behavioral health care for gender diverse youth under 18
• Primary care
• Hormone therapy & surveillance for adults
• Gynecologic care
  • Routine
  • Surgical including hysterectomy
  • Post-surgical MTF care
• Urologic care
  • Routine
  • Surgical including orchiectomy (surgical removal of the testes)
  • Post-surgical FTM care
• Masculinizing/defeminizing chest reconstructive surgery (top surgery)
• Facial feminization procedures
• Voice therapy

Coordinated referrals for:

• Other feminization procedures
• Vaginoplasty (female genital reconstructive surgery)
• Phalloplasty
• Gender reassignment surgery
• Gender-affirming surgery (GAS)

LGBTQ+ Experienced Providers

Ochsner Gender Clinic - Tchoupitoulas

Transgender Hormone Therapy Specialists

• Brandy Panunti, MD - Adult Endocrinology
• Cielo Alleyn, MD - Pediatric Endocrinology

Behavioral Health Services

• Clifton Mixon, PhD – Child/Teen
• Jill West, PhD – Child/Teen

Ochsner Medical Center – Jefferson Highway

General LGBTQ+ Primary Care:

• Gerald Dodd Denton, MD - Adult
• Robin Ivester, MD - Adult
• Brian Cruz, MD - Adult
• Jennifer Braaten, MD - Adult
• Bennett Hailey, MD - Adult

Transgender Hormone Therapy Specialists

• Brandy Panunti, MD - Adult Endocrinology
• Cielo Alleyn, MD - Pediatric Endocrinology

Behavioral Health Services
Specialized Counseling and Medication Management for LGBT Patients

• Jennifer Archie, MD – Adult
• Milton Anderson, MD - Child/Teen
• Dana Gruber, PhD – Bariatric Care - Adult
• Morris Burka, III, PhD – Adult
• Marvin Clifford, LCSW – Adult
• Shannon Lovell, PhD, LCSW – Child/Teen
• Ked Dixon, LCSW-Bacs – Child/Teen
• Michele Larzelere, PhD – Oncology – Adult
• Leonard Grubstein, LCSW – Adult
• Clifton Mixon, PhD – Child/Teen
• Jill West, PhD – Child/Teen

Surgical Services
Anal Cancer Diagnosis/Treatment

• David Vargas, MD, FACS, FASCRS - Colorectal Surgery

Breast Reduction/Augmentation for Transgender Patients

• Ralph Corsetti, MD - Breast and Endocrine Surgery
• Christopher Babycos, MD - Plastic Surgery
• Kristopher Katira, MD - Plastic Surgery

Orchiectomy for Transgender Patients

• Howard Woo, MD - Urology

Speech Therapy/Voice training

• Jeffrey Marino, MD - Ochsner Voice Center in New Orleans
• Judith A. Fornadley, MS, CCC-SLP

Ochsner Health Center – Elmwood

LGBTQ+ Primary Care

• Joseph Miceli, MD - Adult

Ochsner Baptist

General LGBTQ+ Primary Care

• S. Colby Danna, MD
• Christopher Wormuth, MD
• Nicholas Disalvo, MD

Transgender Gynecologic Care, Postoperative Management and Hysterectomies

• Lesie Knoepp, MD - Urogynecology

Transgender Gynecologic Care

• Ellen Kruger, MD

Ochsner Health Center – Covington

Hormonal Therapy for Transgender Patients

• Cielo Alleyn, MD - Pediatric Endocrinology

Ochsner Medical Center – Northshore

Knowledgeable in LGBTQ+ Primary Care/ Surgical Services
Breast Reduction/Augmentation for Transgender Patients

• Christopher Babycos, MD - Plastic Surgery

Behavioral Health Services
Specialized Counseling and Medication Management for LGBTQ+ Patients

• Jennifer Archie, MD – Adult
• Jenny Nicoll, LCSW-BACS – Child/Adolescent

Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center

HIV/AIDS Treatment

• Mary Eschete, MD - Infectious Disease

Ochsner Medical Center – West Bank

Psychiatric Services:
Specialized Counseling for LGBTQ+ Patients

• Amelia Doty, CSW
  

Ochsner Medical Center – Baton Rouge

LGBTQ+ Primary Care

• Arif Qureshi, MD- Adult
• Brandon Weeks, DO - Adult
• Lee Montgomery, MD – Adult

Behavioral Health
Specialized Counseling for LGBTQ+ Patients

• Michael Anders, LCSW
• Shannae Harness, PhD

Ochsner Health Center - Mandeville

Behavioral Health
Specialized Counseling for LGBTQ+ Patients

• Michael Sawyer, Ph.D., M.P.

Ochsner Health Center - Belle Meade

HIV PrEP/Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis

• Brandon Page, MD

Digital Medicine

*Participation in Digital Medicine program is subject to not meeting any clinical exclusionary criteria.

Professional Health Coach

• Michael DeLaRosa

Spiritual Care

At Ochsner, we take care of the whole person. If you or your loved ones would like spiritual support and wish to speak with someone, our chaplain services are available to you, no matter what your faith or background. Click here to learn more.

Make an Appointment

When you make an appointment, you’ll notice we’ve optimized our electronic medical record to ask a patient’s preferred name and pronouns. Visit my.ochsner.org or call 1-866-624-7637 today.