Doug VanderLaan

On this episode of VIEW to the U, Professor Doug VanderLaan from UofT Mississauga's Department of Psychology talks about his work in the Biopsychosocial Investigations of Gender Laboratory – or the BIG lab for short - and this interview highlights Doug's work in gender diversity and gender expression. In the BIG lab, Doug has several lines of research running, including a Neuroimaging Study of Transgender Adolescents and Adults, which investigates brain development and unique brain characteristics among Canadian adolescents who experience gender dysphoria, which is “distress due to an incongruence between birth-assigned and experienced gender.” However, on today’s episode we cover some of the other programs of research in the BIG lab, notably Doug’s work investigating the variations of gender expression in ongoing cross-cultural studies with collaborators in Thailand and China, and some of the ways in which Thai society is unique in their gender expression, as well as his lab’s exploration of potential interventions to decrease mental health risk in youth and broaden children’s acceptance of gender diversity, which has the potential for longer lasting acceptance. We also talk about International Transgender Day of Visibility and his outreach to make these particular issues a year-round and continuous focus. March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility: this episode is meant to mark this occasion and hopefully add to the dialogue of social acceptance of people who are transgender. Resources - Doug VanderLaan's website is https://sites.utm.utoronto.ca/biglab/content/home - A full transcript of the interview is available at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dean/view-u-transcribed-doug-vanderlaan-psychology - Read accompanying profile related to Doug's work https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dean/news/big-lab-broad-aims