Rebecca Allison
A cardiologist from Mississippi, she transitioned in 1993 and fought within the American Medical Association for better care for trans patients.
Rebecca Allison was born in Greenwood, Mississippi. She studied medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, graduating with high honours in 1971, practised internal medicine and returned to training in 1985 to become a cardiologist.
In 1993, while living in Jackson, Mississippi, she transitioned – at a time when there was little support for trans people in the American South, especially in the medical profession. She continued her career and later moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where from 1998 to 2012 she was chief of cardiology for the health insurer CIGNA before going into private practice. A local magazine repeatedly named her one of the city’s top doctors. She retired in 2018.
In 1998 Allison created one of the early online resources on the medical, legal and spiritual needs of trans people, with information on changing birth certificates and on medical procedures; it was cited in many publications on LGBTQ health. She criticised the controversial book “The Man Who Would Be Queen” (2003). She served as president of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and as chair of the American Medical Association’s advisory committee on LGBT issues, and helped pass an AMA resolution calling for the removal of financial barriers to care for trans patients.
She was also active in the faith-based group Soulforce and every year organised the Transgender Day of Remembrance in Phoenix with her partner. Rebecca Allison died in 2024, aged 77.