Alan Hart is the first known transgender graduate of the University of Oregon Medical School, and therefore of OHSU. He is one of the first trans men to undergo surgery as part of his transition process. Hart was born in Kansas in 1890 and moved to Oregon after the death of his father in 1892. After attending Albany College (now Lewis & Clark), Hart attended the University of Oregon Medical School, graduating in 1917.

The following year, Hart had a hysterectomy, married his first wife, Inez Stark, and began a medical practice in Gardiner, Oregon. He worked as a radiologist and had a special interest in tuberculosis. Hart frequently had to relocate after being “found out” and in 1923, Stark left him due in part to the stress of these frequent relocations as well as the strain of keeping Hart’s past hidden. He was divorced from Stark by 1925 and married his second wife, Edna Ruddick, the same year. They remained married until Hart’s death in 1962.

J. Allen Gilbert was a psychiatrist at UOMS who worked with Hart as a patient. It was through therapy with Gilbert that Hart made the decision to have a hysterectomy and transition to outwardly living as a man. In 1920, Gilbert published the article, “Homosexuality and its Treatment,” in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, tracing the history of a subject identified only as “H.”¹ H, now known to be Hart, came to Gilbert to address a phobia he had suffered from for years, but Gilbert quickly came to the conclusion that “the whole trouble [was] connected in some way with sex.”

The article speaks to Hart’s youth, how he gravitated towards typically male activities and attire, the abuse he suffered from his stepfather, his growing attraction to women, and more. Gilbert and Hart attempted to treat the “difficulty” with hypnosis and other “suggestive therapeutics,” to no avail. Hart then began to worry that a cure might remove him of his “masculine ambitions and tastes” and this is when he began to look at other options. Sometime later, Hart decided on the course, and, as Gilbert writes, “Hysterectomy was performed, [his] hair was cut, a complete male outfit was secured and having previously identified [himself] with the red cross, [he] made [his] exit as a female and started as a male with a new hold on life and ambitions worthy of [his] high degree of intellectuality.”

In 1972, the Oregon Journal featured a trans woman named Stephani who was seeking welfare support for her gender affirmation surgery.² In 1974, the same woman, having had the surgery and now known as Parish, wrote a four-part series of first-person narratives for the Journal – giving a face and a personal story to the many struggles trans people go through to this day. The editors stated they wanted to “contribute to a better understanding of the human” and “medical aspects” of what we currently refer to as gender dysphoria.³

The articles talked about her youth, when her mother took her to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital for psychological testing. She was found to be “normal” and had a high IQ. As a teen, Parish ran away multiple times but eventually landed in Dammasch Mental Hospital.⁴ At 16, she ran away to San Francisco where she began hormone therapy.⁵ She later returned to Portland and learned of a doctor at the University of Oregon Medical School who worked with a team focusing on transgender care and gender affirming surgery.⁶ Dr. Ira Pauly, a psychiatrist, and Dr. Raphael Durfee, a gynecologist, worked as a team to treat patients, however, the surgery was “officially banned” at UOMS even though similar institutions in the area (such as the University of Washington’s Gender Identity Clinic) were routinely performing the operations. Private hospitals and clinics had to be used for the actual surgery.

Though the language used is dated, much of what is conveyed through Parish’s articles still resonates today: “What occurred was an operation …. to bring my body into harmony with my lifelong feelings of gender. I have never considered myself anything but a woman.” “To be more clear, I did not want to be LIKE a woman; I wanted to BE a woman. In my own view, in fact, I really WAS a woman …”⁷

The Russell Street Clinic, OHSU’s community dentistry clinic since 1975, has served as a haven for many in the HIV+ community. Before the virus was well understood, many dentists refused to treat positive patients. Russell Street, headed by Dr. David Rosenstein, made it its mission to never turn away a patient, to make them feel welcome, and to provide them with high quality dental care.

HIV+ patients often experienced dental health complications, such as gum disease. The Russell Street Clinic worked not only to treat HIV+ patients’ symptoms, but to educate patients on HIV and how to keep themselves healthier. In addition to providing care for low income and HIV+ patients, the Russell Street Clinic also offered a free research study which provided participants with a free root canal treatment, viral load blood counts, free check-ups, and compensation for their participation. The Russell Street Clinic was a leader for HIV dental care in Portland.

Research into HIV and AIDS was another priority for the institution. In 1989, Dr. Grover Bagby, Jr. and other researchers at OHSU and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center received a sizable grant from the NIH to examine the effects of HIV infection on macrophages, a class of white blood cells. In 1991, researchers in the School of Nursing were focusing on the needs of HIV+ patients. Drs. Marie Berger and Caroline White found that nurses wanted to provide quality care, but were hampered by issues involving confidentiality, reimbursement, lack of resources, and fear (both personal and institutional). On the other side, Barbara Limandri focused her research on patients, specifically gay men and their feelings around HIV testing. She found that many gay men avoided testing until they were almost certain they were HIV+. Men who received negative results often reacted poorly out of distrust for the test, survivor’s guilt, or a hopeless feeling that it was only a matter of time before they did become positive.

HIV/AIDS research continues today at OHSU in such places as the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, in a lab headed up by Dr. Louis Picker. In 2014, Picker received $25 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to further his research into a vaccine to cure HIV/AIDS. Studies in monkeys have shown that the vaccine cleared all traces of infection – meaning it could be a cure for those infected with HIV, not just a preventative solution. In 2021, his vaccine entered human trials.