John F. Strang, Psy.D.

  • Neuropsychologist
  • Director, Gender and Autism Program
  • Research Director, Gender Development Program
    • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Clinical Neuropsychology and Autism, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC, (2009-2011)
    • Internship, Clinical Child Psychology, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC, (2008-2009)
    • Psy.D., Clinical Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, (2003-2009)
  • John Strang, Psy.D., is a pediatric neuropsychologist at Children's National Hospital and the Director of the Gender and Autism Program, an interdisciplinary clinical program for gender-diverse neurodivergent youth. Dr. Strang is the Director of Research for the Children's National Gender Development Program and an Associate Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He is also faculty with the Global Education Institute for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).

    Research and Clinical Interests

    • Gender-diverse and transgender youth development
    • Clinical care for youth at the intersection of gender diversity and neurodivergence, especially autistic transgender youth
    • Executive function differences
    • Self-advocacy for youth with variations in sex traits (VST)/intersex variations
    • Community-based participatory engagement informing research and clinical practice (integrating patient perspectives and voices to shape the care they receive)
    • Self-report measure development to increase youth self-advocacy
    • Cross-national approaches to understand how varying care policies and practices impact sex and gender minority (SGM) youth outcomes

    Featured Grants

    • The Impact of Pubertal Suppression on Adolescent Neural and Mental Health Trajectories
      National Institute of Mental Health
      07/01/2021 – 04/30/2026
    • A novel approach for equitable characterization of gender identity and its use in exposing subgroup discrepancies in polygenic score associations 
      National Human Genome Research Institute
      09/01/2022 – 06/30/2026
    • Autism Center of Excellence Network: Neurodevelopmental Biomarkers of Late Diagnosis in Female and Gender Diverse Autism
      National Institute of Mental Health
      08/01/2022 – 07/31/2027
    • Examining those components of Netherlands' gender-affirming-care policy likely to improve health equity for U.S. transgender/gender-diverse youths
      Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Evidence for Action
      07/01/2021 – 12/31/2023
    • Accelerating understanding of sex, gender, and compensation in young autistic children: A longitudinal approach
      National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
      10/01/2021 – 07/31/2026
    • Equitable measurement of care disparities and needs in intersex youth/youth with variations in sex development
      National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
      09/25/2023 – 06/30/2028