Ivan Hsiao, MPH ’24
Ivan Hsiao is a 2024 Master of Public Health candidate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the Health and Social Behavior field of study, and the Women, Gender and Health interdisciplinary concentration. Through scholarship and entrepreneurship, Hsiao is focused on resolving health inequities faced by the transgender and gender-diverse community, and facilitating access to the dignified and affirming health care they deserve in order to live healthy, self-determined lives.
Hsiao is a researcher in the School’s Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and member of Harvard SOGIE, working with Sabra Katz-Wise and a part of the Project AVANT team to conduct research on the mental health of transgender and nonbinary youth, with Nancy Krieger to investigate the use of sex and gender in clinical algorithms, and with Sari Reisner to advocate for the normalization of trans health best practices in the broader health care system. Hsiao is also developing theories around gender-transformative approaches specifically for the transgender community.
Hsiao is the founder of Trans Health HQ, a one-stop shop for health care teams that centralizes resources around gender-affirming care (read more about their work in this student profile). Hsiao founded Trans Health HQ at Harvard University, and worked on the organization as their MPH practicum project. They are an Adrian Cheng Fellow with the Social Innovation + Change Initiative in the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, and one of ten teams in the 2024 Cohort of Harvard Chan School’s H2A HealthLab Accelerator, which is co-sponsored with Harvard College and the Lemann Program for Creativity and Entrepreneurship. Their theory-informed intervention was recognized in major competitions across Harvard: Trans Health HQ was named a runner-up winner in the Harvard Business School’s New Venture Competition and a finalist in the Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge.
Prior to coming to Harvard Chan School, Hsiao spent seven years in the life sciences and health care sector. They worked as a strategy management consultant, a global lead for DEI strategy, and an entrepreneur-in-residence building a venture capital-backed diagnostic tool. Hsiao traded oncology clinical trial design and rare disease drug launches for public health research and social entrepreneurship to work on gender health equity full-time, combining the analytical rigor of consulting, the mission-driven nature of public health work, and the creativity required in entrepreneurship to move forward the field of trans health and build a more inclusive health care system for their community.
Ivan holds a B.A. in History from Columbia University, and Certificates in Pastry and Cuisine from Le Cordon Bleu Paris. Outside of work, Ivan is a distance triathlete who most recently represented Taiwan at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Nice, France, and a food and lifestyle photographer who has partnered with companies such as Le Fooding and Hawaiian Airlines. On weekends, you can find them at the opera, a contemporary art museum, or a pottery studio.
If you are interested in hearing updates about Trans Health HQ, please fill out this survey, and connect with Ivan on LinkedIn.
