Jack Turban MD MHS is the Director of the Gender Psychiatry Program at UCSF, where he is also an Assistant Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Affiliate Faculty at The Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. His research focuses on the mental health of transgender and gender diverse youth, with a focus on research relevant to public policy. He is co-editor of the textbook Pediatric Gender Identity: Gender-affirming Care for Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth. His research has been cited in major court cases regarding the civil rights of transgender people in the U.S., in state legislative debates around the country, and in the United Nations’ independent expert report on conversion therapy.
Dr. Turban's work has appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, JAMA Psychiatry, JAMA Pediatrics, and the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, among others. His research includes the first study to link gender identity conversion efforts to adverse mental health outcomes and the first study to link access to pubertal suppression during adolescence to lower odds of suicidality among transgender adults. He is a contributing editor for The Journal of The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, an academic editor for PLoS One, and on the editorial board of Psychiatric Times.
He is also a frequent op-ed contributor with work featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, CNN, Scientific American, Vox, and other major media outlets. He teaches op-ed writing in the Harvard Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health program and has taught op-ed writing for physicians and scientists for The American Psychiatric Association and The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Dr. Turban is regularly consulted by the media to comment on issues regarding mental health and topics related to LGBTQ health. He and his work have been quoted over 100 times for outlets including NPR’s All Things Considered, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, MSNBC's 11th Hour, ABC’s 20/20 with Diane Sawyer, The New York Times, NBC News, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, Vox, Reuters, GQ, Vogue, CBC, and Vanity Fair, among others. He has consulted for the U.S. Department of Defense and major tech companies on issues related to LGBTQ mental health. He currently serves on the scientific advisory board for The Upswing Fund, a collaborative fund created by Melinda Gates to support adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Turban graduated from Harvard University magna cum laude with a B.A. in neurobiology. He earned his MD and MHS degrees from Yale School of Medicine, where he was an HHMI medical research fellow and graduated with highest honors with an award winning thesis entitled, “Evolving Treatment Paradigms for Transgender Youth.” He completed his adult psychiatry training at MGH/McLean (Harvard Medical School) and his child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he served as chief fellow.
He is a member of the media committee of The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and the communications council of The American Psychiatric Association. He sits on the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports.