Dr. Zhou will provide an overview of neurodiversity and reframe autism and ADHD from a neurodiversity-affirming perspective. He will discuss the overlap of neurodivergence with gender diversity, as well as how standard screening and assessment tools often fail to identify autistic trans and nonbinary youth. He will share his clinical experience with managing co-occurring mental health conditions in neurodivergent gender diverse youth, as well as considerations for navigating the gender-affirmation process. Finally, he will offer tips and strategies on how to be more neurodiversity-affirming.

A. Ning Zhou, MD (he/him/他) is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist at the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) and in private-practice. He completed medical school at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, psychiatry residency at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and child & adolescent psychiatry fellowship at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia and Cornell Universities. At SFDPH, he works at a community clinic serving queer and trans youth, a primary care clinic, and a specialty mental health clinic. He co-facilitates a monthly gender consultation group aimed at increasing capacity to serve trans and gender diverse youth and their families at SFDPH.