Asian Women for Health (AWFH) is excited to announce the Health Equity and Resources for the Trans Community (HEART): TRANSforming Care Conference, taking place on Saturday, June 21st, 2025, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. HEART is a community-oriented conference that highlights organizations working to ensure safety and access to quality care for trans individuals. It is open to LGBTQ+ individuals and allies who are interested in learning more about trans health resources and equity. Dr. Cole joins a panel of trans health experts to share his thoughts on providing inclusive care to the trans community from a research perspective.

Baltimore Safe Haven celebrates and recognizes the collective efforts to provide a safe and affirming space for the TLGBQIA community in Baltimore and welcomes the public to the grand opening of their new housing support location on Collington Ave. Will serves as Treasurer of the Board for BSH.

In part two, Jess and Will continue their conversation on the complexities of language, identity, and connection. This episode dives into the emotional and political labor of being understood—and what it costs to constantly translate yourself for others. With humor, honesty, and deep care, Will reflects on what it means to be unapologetically legible, or deliberately not.

n part one of a conversation with the brilliant Dr. Will Cole, Jess and Will dive into his story of coming into himself as a queer trans man from a Mormon upbringing, a straight-passing marriage, motherhood, and building his career as a scientist. Will discusses how all of these pieces inform the way he moves through the world, and how they've impacted his career trajectory. This episode invites listeners to sit with nuance, contradiction, and the possibility of finding truth after years of feeling like you have to hide to survive.]

Dr. Will Cole (he/they) is a transgender health expert, owner of Queery Research Consulting, LGBTQ health professor, a queer, transgender man, husband, and seahorse dad. As Your Trans Cousin, he combines personal stories with trans health science in everyday language to spread positive, joyful information about being trans. He is pursuing a master’s in writing creative nonfiction; his work has been published in Another Jane Pratt Thing, Welter Online, and Baltimore Fishbowl.

At the 2025 National Transgender Health Summit, Cole presented a workshop for providers of transgender health, "Transcending Fear: Cultivating and Celebrating Gender Euphoria in Gender Affirming Care in 2025." This workshop invites providers to reframe the narrative of gender-affirming care from one of side effects and risks to one of joy, euphoria, and the sacred process of becoming.

Will tells his coming out story and how he had to choose between transitioning and his 20-year marriage.

Out/Spoken is almost here: Loud. Proud. And deeply personal. Get tickets. ACA accessible and ASL interpreted.

One night. Stories that go beyond the surface. Moments you’ll be thinking about long after the lights come up.

At their 15th annual National Honor Our LGBTQ Elders Day, Chase Brexton Health invited Will to honor an elder who has had a significant impact on him. He told a story about Jai (he/him), a Baltimore man who showed Will how it is a sacred beautiful thing to turn 50 and join the ranks of LGBTQ elders who have been resisting and persisting for decades.

Will told a story about coming out to his son, and their changing relationship as he went from Mom to Dad.

“I’m grateful that I lived as a woman for 40 years before transitioning to live as a man. Though that does not mean we should force trans people to live in their assigned sex. I am proud to be a man who has given birth and breastfed. Those things did not make me feel gender dysphoria; those were the only times before transition when I felt connected to my body.  That is true, and it is true that removing my breasts and taking testosterone were lifesaving. I love that I am a man who has experienced motherhood and all the connection and complexity that brings.”

With the generous Johns family, the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department at Hopkins established the lectureship to honor the life and legacy of Caitlin J. McFarland, MD—a remarkable advocate for LGBTQ+ mental health, educator, and physician.

Dr. McFarland was a dedicated psychiatrist who championed the well-being of gender-diverse individuals and sought to advance education and research in the field. This annual lectureship will continue her mission by fostering dialogue, innovation, and progress in mental health care.

Dr. Cole presented the inaugural lecture.

At the 2025 LGBT Workforce Conference, Cole and colleague Cassidy Dallas co-presented "Transcending Fear: Cultivating and Celebrating Gender Euphoria in Gender Affirming Care in 2025" to medical providers of transgender care. Cole & Dallas educated and updated attendees on the dire state of anti-transgender policy in the US, and how this impacts giving and receiving care.

Dr. Cole presented "Practicing Transgender Allyship in 2025" for the Multicultural Alliance at the insurance company, Ryan Specialty, in honor of Transgender Day of Visibility.