Dr. John Brosious doesn’t back down from a challenge. In fact, he doubles down.
When Dr. Brosious saw the transgender community struggle to access health care in Southern Nevada, specifically access to gender-affirming surgeries, he made it his mission to create a gender surgery program that could dramatically improve surgical care and provide life-changing services for these individuals.
The daily challenges and his ability to be a creative problem solver is what Dr. Brosious likes most about being in the field of reconstructive surgery. He frequently handles cancer reconstruction, trauma patients, and is often called on to apply his skill to cosmetic surgery—from facelifts to liposuction. While a successful plastic surgeon, he was faced with perhaps his biggest challenge with his first gender-affirming surgery.
Dr. Brosious researched and read nearly every article published on genital gender affirmation surgery, reviewed every textbook and attended conferences in order to learn more about these operations, even traveling to an out-of-state institution to observe transfeminine (male-to-female) vaginoplasty.
In 2020, Dr. Brosious performed the first-ever gender-affirming genital surgery in the state of Nevada, creating a fully functional vulva and vagina with the ability to have penetrative sex and achieve orgasm. Dr. Brosious is on pace to perform about 100 gender-affirming chest surgeries annually, and the list for genital surgeries keeps growing.
Dr. Brosious is not stopping there. His ultimate goal is to create a one-stop, multi-specialty gender health care program where patients can be seen by surgeons, mental health professionals, hormone specialists, social workers and others—all in one physical setting. Creating an environment full of knowledgeable providers would streamline access, improve outcomes, and provide the respectful and dedicated care all patients deserve.
Innovation Runner-up
Holly Lyman Director of Community Health, Dignity Health – St. Rose Dominican Hospitals