
The childrenâs hospital that housed Americaâs largest pediatric gender clinic is seemingly distancing itself from its notorious medical director.
The Childrenâs Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) has removed the profile of Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, the former medical director of its gender clinic,from its website. Olson-Kennedy had been prescribing children puberty blockers and cross sex hormones for 16 years, was a ânational expertâ in gender medicine and the medical director of the âlargest transgender youth clinic in the United States,â according to her removed profile which was last saved in the internet archive on July 11. In addition to Olson-Kennedyâs profile removal, the webpage for the Olson-Kennedy research laboratory has been removed and she is no longer listed as an active provider in the hospitalâs physician database.
Olson-Kennedy was the project leader of a long-term National Institute of Health (NIH) study on the mental health impacts of treating gender-confused children with puberty blockers. She controversially withheld the results of the study when the results showed puberty blockers did not improve mental health of gender-confused children out of fear the data would be âweaponized,â according to reporting in October 2024 by The New York Times. A preprint of the study was published in May 2025.
CHLA closed the doors of its Transyouth Health and Development clinic on July 22 in response to President Donald Trumpâs executive order banning the use of federal funds to promote child sex-changes, according an archived message on its gender clinic website.
âDespite this deeply held commitment to supporting LAâs gender-diverse community, the hospital has been left with no viable path forward except to close the Center for Transyouth Health and Development, effective July 22, 2025,â the gender clinic stated on its website.
âCenter team members were heartbroken to learn of the decision from hospital leaders, who emphasized that it was not made lightly, but followed a thorough legal and financial assessment of the increasingly severe impacts of recent administrative actions and proposed policies,â the message continued.
CHLA did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundationâs multiple requests for confirmation of Olson-Kennedyâs employment status.Olson-Kennedy did not respond to the DCNFâs requests for comment.Â
Medical watchdog organization Do No Harm listed the CHLA gender clinic as one of the â12 worst-offending childrenâs hospitals promoting sex change treatments for minorsâ in its Stop The Harm database which provides information about the services provided at pediatric gender clinics across America.
âI think weâre saving a lot of children from a lot of harm,â Do No Harm Board Chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb told the DCNF.
âThatâs what this is about. Thereâs no evidence that these maneuvers improve a childâs psychological well-being and thereâs a lot of evidence that theyâre harmful,â Goldfarb added.
CHLA was one of more than 20 hospital systems that have stopped providing child sex-change procedures in response to Presidentâs Trumpâs executive action that were identified in a July 25 press release from the White House.
Olson-Kennedy is being sued for medical malpractice by detransitioner Kaya Clementine Breen, who alleges in a lawsuit she was âfast-trackedâ onto a âconveyor beltâ of harmful sex-change interventions under Olson-Kennedyâs care at the CHLA gender clinic. Breen was given puberty blockers at age 12, cross-sex hormones at age 13 and a double mastectomy at age 14, according to her ongoing lawsuit that was filed in December 2024.
âDr. Olson-Kennedy also recommended that get a double mastectomy. Just as she had misled and coerced Clementine and her parents to start testosterone, Dr. Olson-Kennedy again misled them by emphasizing the supposed importance of getting such a radical procedure early,â states the lawsuit. âShe represented that if Clementine got a double mastectomy at an early age, the healing process would be easier, and that if she waited any longer, it would be impossible to do it right,â the lawsuit continues.
Olson-Kennedy is a member of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), a discredited medical organization that is currently being investigated by U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). WPATHâs clinical guidance, called the Standards of Care, have been used by healthcare systems, governments and insurance companies to inform sex-change policies. The Trump administration has called WPATHâs medical guidance âjunk scienceâ that healthcare providers should avoid when treating patients.
âPresident Trump is delivering on his promise to protect children from dangerous gender transitions,â said Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, chair of the HELP Committee, in an Aug. 19 press release.
âAs chair of the HELP Committee, I will continue to work with the President to stop the chemical and surgical mutilation of our children,â Cassidy added.
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