I’m thrilled to share the news that I have been awarded the 2025 Jason A. Hannah Medal by the Royal Society of Canada for my book Wondrous Transformations: A Maverick Physician, the Science of Hormones, and the Birth of the Transgender Revolution (University of North Carolina Press, 2023.) The Hannah Medal was established in 1976 with the assistance of Associated Medical Services Inc. and is awarded for an important work in the history of medicine published in the preceding five years.
It was tremendously rewarding to spend many years in the study of the life of Dr Harry Benjamin (1885-1986), a pivotal figure in the early development of transgender medicine. The long history of gender-affirming care deserves to be better known, now more than ever, and I’m thankful to be able to share Benjamin’s story with a wider audience.
Thanks go to my agents Peter Tallack and Tisse Takagi of Curious Minds Agency and to my editor Lucas Church and the team at the University of North Carolina Press for their guidance, support and belief in this project. I am grateful to the Royal Society of Canada, to Associated Medical Services for its invaluable support of healthcare history in Canada, and especially to the nominators and members of the selection committee who found my book worthy of this recognition. I am deeply honoured.
