Gaya Chelvakumar, MD

Bio

Gayathri (Gaya) Chelvakumar, MD, MPH (she/her) is an attending physician in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Rady Children’s Hospital and an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine. She received her medical degree from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and completed her pediatric residency, adolescent medicine fellowship, and Master of Public Health degree at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Clinically she has expertise in providing care to adolescents and young adults, with a focus on youth who may be particularly vulnerable to negative health outcomes including transgender and gender diverse youth, LGB youth, youth experiencing homelessness, and justice-involved youth. In the past, she has established and operated clinical programs to meet the specific needs of these populations and worked to implement system-based changes to improve care. Currently, she is co-medical director of the Center for Gender Affirming Care Clinic at Rady Children’s Hospital.

She is an educator, researcher, and advocate for equitable, evidence-based care for adolescents. She is involved with international and national efforts to educate medical providers and trainees on the care of gender-diverse youth. She currently serves as faculty for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Global Education Institute (GEI), is a member of the education committee for the US Professional Association for Transgender Health, and was a co-author for the Adolescent Chapter in the recently updated WPATH Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People. She aims to center youth voices in discussions about adolescent health and currently serves as co-chair for the Youth Engagement Subcommittee for the Society of Adolescent Health and Medicine.