FIU faculty hosts international conference on sexual differentiation disorders

Conference Will Guide Olympic Officials in Developing Processes for Resolving Athlete Gender Controversies

MIAMI — Some of the world’s leading experts on sex differentiation disorders will come to Miami Beach in January for a groundbreaking conference hosted by faculty in Florida International University’s Wertheim College of Medicine.

This conference will provide information that will serve as the basis for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) establishing procedures for resolving gender controversies involving athletes.

The “2^nd World Conference: Genetic and Hormonal Basis of Sexual Differentiation Disorders” will be held Jan. 15-17, 2010 at the Eden Roc Hotel on Miami Beach and will bring together scientists and physicians who deal with these disorders.  The conference will be co-hosted by two FIU Wertheim College of Medicine experts in the field:  Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson, Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Human and Molecular Genetics and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Dr. Maria New, Associate Dean for Clinical Research and Professor of Human and Molecular Genetics.

During the conference, experts will look at all aspects of sex differentiation disorders.  This will include hormones, genetic basis, psychology and other factors.  A roundtable of experts will address the specific problems of assigning sexual identification, looking at both the science and ethics of the dilemma.

Sex differentiation disorders were in the spotlight recently with South African runner Caster Semenya, IAAF world champion in the women’s 800 meters.  Questions arose over her gender after she won the gold medal in August at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, held in Berlin. Semenya was ultimately allowed to keep her medal.

“This is an incredibly complex issue, particularly as it relates to any patient or elite athlete,” said Simpson, Past President of the American College of Medical Genetics and a member of a Gender Verification Group for IOC.  “All elite athletes, by their nature, have a competitive advantage.  The idea of determining whether an athlete with a sex differentiation disorder has an unfair advantage is fraught with peril.  Results can have a devastating impact on the lives of the athletes involved.  There is an obligation of fairness as well as an obligation to delineate correct processes for treating individuals with these disorders.”

The IOC will use material presented during the conference as the basis for determining processes to address controversies.  A closed meeting to be attended by 15 to 20 scientists and sports federation physicians will be held immediately upon the close of the 2^nd World Conference.  At this meeting, directed by IOC and IAAF officials, processes for addressing controversies will be delineated and clinical needs identified.

The 2^nd World Conference will offer Continuing Medical Education credit for physicians through the joint sponsorship of the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine and the Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.

For more information on the conference, please click here or call Esther Lopez, Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Office of Academic Affairs, at 305-348-0653.

Media Contact: Jean-Paul Renaud at 305-348-2716.

-FIU-

About the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine:
The College of Medicine was approved in 2006 by the Florida Board of Governors and the Florida Legislature.  In 2008, it received preliminary accreditation by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education of the AAMC and admitted its first class in August 2009. Among the innovative elements of the FIU College of Medicine is a program called NeighborhoodHELP™, which will send medical students along with their counterparts in social work, nursing and public health, into the community. The FIU College of Medicine is expected to have a multi-billion-dollar economic impact on Miami-Dade County, bringing thousands of jobs to the area and eventually contributing millions to the state coffers every year. For more information visit http://medicine.fiu.edu/

About FIU:
Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, its 17 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. More than 100,000 FIU alumni live and work in South Florida. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University”. In August 2009, FIU welcomed the inaugural class of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu.