Johns Hopkins Medicine has announced that plastic and reconstructive surgeon Fan Liang, M.D., will become the next medical director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender Health (CTH), one of the premier institutions of its kind in the nation. Embracing diversity and inclusion, the CTH provides affirming, objective and person-centered care that improves the health and wellness of its patients; educates interdisciplinary health care professionals to provide culturally competent, evidence-based care; informs the public about transgender health issues; and advances medical knowledge by conducting biomedical research.

“It is an honor to be entrusted with leading this remarkable multidisciplinary center where patients from all ages and in all phases of transition can access and receive the very best that medicine has to offer for gender affirmation and improved quality of life,” says Liang. “In its first five years, the CTH has established a powerful reputation as a pioneer of innovative clinical procedures, a passionate advocate for equality in care and treatment, and a leader in advancing research — a legacy that I am committed to taking to the next level.”

At the CTH — which celebrates its fifth year of operation in 2022 — Liang joins a team of more than 50 clinicians and staff members involved in transgender health care who have treated more than 2,800 patients and performed more than 600 gender-affirming surgeries.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Liang — a skilled, patient-centered and caring clinician; dynamic leader and proven administrator — to the Johns Hopkins Medicine family,” says Richard Redett, M.D., director of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Under her stewardship, the dedicated CTH team will continue to provide the highest quality care, services and resources for their patients.”

Liang comes to the CTH after serving as assistant professor of surgery at the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), where she worked at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and was co-director of the Johns Hopkins/University of Maryland Craniofacial Fellowship.

Liang is board certified in plastic surgery, with expertise in a wide range of plastic and reconstructive procedures including pediatric and adult craniofacial (related to the face or skull) reconstruction, oncologic (cancer and cancer-therapy related) and traumatic reconstruction, microsurgery and gender affirmation surgery.

As a surgeon at UMMS, Liang focused on restoring form and function for patients with complex craniofacial trauma, oncologic defects and bony injuries of the hand and lower extremities. She finds working with patients to achieve their goal of gender affirmation especially rewarding.

Liang has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and presented widely, on topics related to craniofacial reconstruction, transplant biology and emerging technologies in plastic surgery. She also has a wealth of experience mentoring and teaching students.

A magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University, Liang earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. She earned her medical degree from Harvard Medical School in the combined Harvard–Massachusetts Institute of Technology Health Sciences and Technology program, followed by an integrated plastic surgery residency at the University of Southern California and a one-year pediatric and craniofacial plastic surgery fellowship at the University of Michigan.

“We look forward to working together with Dr. Liang to grow and evolve our interdisciplinary service line; further our tripartite mission of patient care, education and research; and improve the health of transgender and gender-diverse communities while reducing the health inequities these marginalized people continue to face,” says Paula Neira, J.D., M.S.N., CTH’s clinical program director and associate professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.