Second Opinion: Transgender Health

Credit: Nic Minetor

While other media outlets sensationalize and politicize issues surrounding transgender youth, Second Opinion looks at the issue from a truly medical perspective. Along with medical experts who specialize in working with families, Jennifer and Josselynn Surridge tell their story of what it is like to come to terms with being a transgender person and being a mother of a transgender child—a story that will help every American understand the issue in a way that is rarely explored in the popular press. Transgender Health airs Thursday, June 13 at 8:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

Produced by WXXI, in partnership with the University of Rochester Medical Center and West 175 Productions, Second Opinion focuses on health literacy in an engaging, entertaining, and accessible way. A patient story provides the backbone of each episode as host Dr. Peter Salgo leads a panel of medical experts through the twists and turns of one patient's real-life medical mystery. New this season, Second Opinion introduces each patient in their own home environment to provide a personal look at the circumstances surrounding their medical condition. To help deepen the very human, personal storytelling, the patient later meets a panel of experts in the studio, before a live studio audience, to continue the discussion.

Also new this season are special field segments, “Medical Innovations,” that feature doctors and researchers who are doing cutting-edge work in areas of diagnostics, treatment, and surgery. To close each episode, the patient shares their advice from home, a personal message to help people dealing with the disease or condition.

The series, now in its 14th season, hosts a comprehensive web site, SecondOpinion-tv.org, where visitors can watch full episodes of the series and access medical information through searchable video, resources, and transcripts. Viewers can follow Second Opinion on Twitter at: @SecondOpinionTV and on Facebook at: facebook.com/secondopiniontv.