Loughborough University academic Dr Joanna Harper speaks about her research on the impact of hormones on athletes within various sports, looking at the culture, attitudes, and barriers to participation for transgender athletes. This is a joint event between Kent Medical School and the School of Sport and Exercise Science.
Dr Joanna Harper earned her PhD in exercise science in January 2024 from Loughborough University in England. She is currently a post-doctoral scholar at Oregon Health & Science University in the United States. She also serves as the visiting fellow for transgender athletic performance at Loughborough University.Three studies from Dr Harper’s PhD are being prepared for publication. Two of the studies are laboratory-based studies of the capabilities of trans athletes, while the third is an online examination of athletic performance of trans athletes in selected sports. Dr Harper was also the first author of a systematic review of hormone-based changes in non-athletic transgender women that was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Dr Harper had previously published the first peer-reviewed study examining the performance of transgender athletes and has authored or co-authored several additional papers concerning transgender and intersex athletes. Dr Harper is the author of the Rowman and Littlefield book Sporting Gender: The history, science, and stories of transgender and intersex athletes. Dr Harper has worked closely with several international and national sports-governing bodies as they grapple with the complex issues surrounding eligibility policy for transgender and intersex athletes, including the International Olympic Committee, World Athletics, and World Rowing. Dr Harper speaks frequently at international meetings and symposia on the topics of transgender and intersex athletes. Dr Harper’s interest in the topic of transgender athletic performance grew out of her own gender transition and the subsequent speed loss that she encountered as a sub-elite distance runner. Prior to her late-life career change, Dr Harper worked for several years as a Medical Physicist. She has a master’s degree in medical physics and an undergraduate degree in physics, both earned at Western University in London Canada.
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