Rebecca Allison

Rebecca Anne "Becky" Allison (born December 21, 1946) is an American cardiologist and incoming President of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA). In 2008 she was elected Chair of the American Medical Association Advisory Committee on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues. Allison is known for her work advocating on behalf of transgendered people.

Career
Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, to Errol Ward Atkison and Mabel Blackwell Atkison, Allison graduated magna cum laude from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1971. After practicing primary care/internal medicine, in 1985 she returned to school to study cardiology, working in that field beginning in 1987. Allison transitioned in 1993 while living in Jackson, Mississippi, but lost her practice within a year of transition. She then moved to Phoenix, Arizona, for a position with CIGNA and currently serves as their chief of cardiology. Phoenix Magazine named Allison one of the "Top Doctors" in Phoenix for 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Activism
In 1998, Allison created drbecky.com, a resource site focusing on the medical, legal, and spiritual needs of transgender-people. The website includes a compilation of statutes for amending sex on a birth certificate, a brochure on facial feminization surgery by Douglas Ousterhout, criticism of the controversial 2003 book The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey, and a section on spirituality. Allison's website is frequently cited in guidelines for LGBT health care. In addition to the GLMA, she is Chair of the American Medical Association Advisory Committee on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues, and assisted in passage of AMA Resolution 22, "Removing Financial Barriers to Care for Transgender Patients." Allison is also active in Soulforce and organizes the Phoenix Transgender Day of Remembrance annually with her partner Margaux Schaffer.

Selected publications

 * Allison RA (2007). Transsexualism. In Fink G (ed.) Encyclopedia of Stress (2nd Edition). Elsevier, ISBN 9780120885039
 * Allison RA (2007). Transsexualism. In Pfaff D, Arnold A, Etgen A, Fahrbach S, Rubin R (eds.) Hormones, Brain, and Behavior (2nd Edition). Elsevier, ISBN 9780125321044