What Transition Taught Me About Gender, Power, and Medicine

By Jailyn Avila, MD, FP-AEMUS, RDMS

One afternoon, when I was a young attending at a large academic center, I was paged to the trauma bay to receive a patient in traumatic shock.  Our team of 10-15 multidisciplinary medical professionals assembled in the trauma room as the medics wheeled our patient in, solely focused on saving the patient’s life. Immediately after the medics brought the patient into our trauma area, my senior resident asked for the patient’s history, after which the medic paused and stated, “You have really pretty hair.”  My senior resident then politely asked the medic to continue their report, ignoring the inappropriate and unprofessional comment.  After stabilization and disposition, I attempted to locate the man who had been so inappropriate with my resident, but his team had already departed.  I circled back with my resident, who acknowledged the experience and how inappropriate it was, but she informed me that it wasn’t that uncommon for her. 

Transitioning has taught me self-love, patience, and compassion that I never had access to before.  My entire life had been a mix of varying shades of gray, and I learned to see the full spectrum of life. I learned to love myself to a scale I had never known possible.  I also learned that while I had taken pride in myself as a man who advocated for women, minorities, and the LGBT+ community, I had done this from a position of immense privilege that I had never quite known the magnitude of until my transition.  

Post-transition, I possessed the same academic pedigree, degrees, and medical experience that I had before, but found that my voice suddenly mattered less.  I learned how frequently women are interrupted, spoken over, and dismissed.  I learned what it felt like to be viewed as less than human.  I learned what it feels like to be discriminated against, ridiculed, and looked over. I’ve watched as my rights to exist, both in the workplace and outside of it, have been relentlessly eroded.  I’ve learned what it feels like to consider the likelihood of assault at the hands of both the public and those sworn to protect me when deciding to relieve myself.  I’ve been sexually and verbally harassed in my hometown solely for being present on the sidewalk. I’ve learned how it feels to be hated, and I’ve learned to fear death.  

Even if it had been a thousand times harder, I would go down this path again. Still, I must acknowledge that the journey has laid bare the profound challenges women face in medicine. I’m deeply grateful for all I’ve learned—and especially thankful for the friendships and support that have formed around me along the way.

Most relevant to this specific audience, I’ve learned how important it is to believe us when we say that things need to change and how crucial it is to be a champion for those with less privilege.

Bio: 

Jailyn Avila is a board-certified emergency medicine physician, a transgender woman, a wife and mother of three. She completed medical school in Loma Linda, California, residency in Chattanooga, Tennessee and an ultrasound fellowship in Lexington, Kentucky.  She has been heavily involved in medical education with an emphasis on bedside ultrasound and runs an organization along with Ben Smith called Core Ultrasound, delivering online educational content.  In 2021, Jailyn began her gender transition and “completed” said transition in 2023. Jailyn is currently Core Faculty for the UHS SoCal MEC Emergency Medicine Residency in Temecula, California where she also functions as the Associate Ultrasound Director and Ultrasound Fellowship Co-Director. She also functions as the Director of Digital Education for FemInEM. In her free time, Dr. Avila enjoys spending time with family (wife and 3 children), dancing, reading, Pilates and all things Disney.