A medical doctor working for Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) published an article in September 2023 that claimed children who identify as transgender benefit when competing in sports with competitors of their preferred gender.
The September 18, 2023 article was published less than six months after Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a biological female who identified as a transgender male, committed her devastating March 27 attack on the Covenant School which claimed the lives of three 9-year-old children and three adult staff members.
Police documents, obtained by The Tennessee Star from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation, revealed Hale was a 22-year mental health patient at VUMC. Further The Star reported Hale was referred for commitment at VUMC by her original psychologist in 2019, but that Hale apparently participated in a VUMC Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) instead.
The Star also obtained approximately 80 pages of Hale’s writings in a journal police recovered from her vehicle. Hale repeatedly wrote about her gender identity in this journal, including in a rant about transgender and non-binary rights and entries about being misgendered or born in the wrong body.
Dr. Alexander Sin (pictured above), who practices in the field of Sports Medicine at the VUMC Student Health Center, argued in his opinion article, published in the scholarly publication JAMA Pediatrics, that children who identify as transgender should be allowed to compete with their preferred gender due to the known benefits sports offer children.
The article was published in response to a series of legislative proposals and laws which require student athletes to compete with students who share their biological gender.
In an interview with medical website STAT News published the following day, Sin seemed to argue that kindergarten students who identify as transgender should not be held to the same standards as older students.
Sin began, “So these regulations are often K-12, right? We start from kindergarten.” He questioned, “How competitive is kindergarten? And why do we care if there is this little boy who is assigned as female at birth, who wants to play as a boy?”
He posed to the website, “what is most important? Is it that we have more kids playing and allow kids to play, or does it matter who gets a medal at a third-grade competition? I think our emphasis needs to be on their health and wellness.”
Sin was joined by two other researchers, including one from the University of Rochester, which The Daily Mail noted “attracted controversy for offering a ‘gender-affirming’ care course for teachers who have students as young as five years old,” and was “accused of training staff at local schools in ‘transgender ideology.'”
The doctor thanked his coauthors in a post to the social media platform X, where he wrote that he hoped to “create some meaningful discussion and ideas” at an October 2023 American Academy of Pediatrics event where Sin claimed he was scheduled to speak.
Thank you @DrKatieRizzone @GilbGonzales for your help on this article! 🙌🏽
Hopefully can create some meaningful discussion and ideas when I present at AAP this October!— Alexander Sin, MD, MS (@AlexanderSinMD) September 19, 2023
In addition to the connection to Hale, Sin’s article was also published about one year after The Daily Wire host Matt Walsh posted a video to X which showed a VUMC medical professional describe its transgender program as a “big money maker” that offered $40,000 surgeries and expensive followup care.
Walsh posted a second video showing another VUMC medical professional warn her colleagues that “conscientious objections” are “problematic” for the hospital, and warning those who decline to participate in transgender care due to “religious beliefs” would face “consequences.”
Vanderbilt was apparently concerned that not all of its staff would be on board. Dr. Ellen Clayton warned that "conscientious objections" are "problematic." Anyone who decides not to be involved in transition surgeries due to "religious beliefs" will face "consequences" pic.twitter.com/CgNicrG4Mg
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 20, 2022
More than two weeks after The Star contacted VUMC for comment, the hospital asserted it could not comment on Hale’s treatment due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) Act of 1996.
Neither VUMC nor its LGBT program replied to a previous inquiry which sought to establish whether Hale sought gender affirming care at the hospital and whether her mental health professionals new of her decision to identify as a transgender man.
After The Star published dozens of articles about the Covenant investigation, and revealed for the first time that Hale was a VUMC patient, the father of a transgender-identified daughter told this publication he is concerned after his daughter “began mentioning a trans lifestyle and adopted a male name” while receiving mental health treatment at the hospital.
“My point of all of this is IF (in caps for a reason) [VUMC] did this to Audrey Hale as well as my daughter, there MUST be others who are in the same predicament,” the father told The Star. He continued, “Without question [VUMC] should be held accountable for what they did to Audrey but possibly have done to my daughter and other youngsters.”
Both Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns and operates The Star, and editor-in-chief Michael Patrick Leahy are plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuits which seek to compel the Metro Nashville Police Department and the FBI to release Hale’s full writings, including those sometimes called a manifesto.
The Star recently published an FBI memo that warned against releasing “legacy tokens” from killers like Hale. These “legacy tokens” appear to include both Hale’s writings obtained by The Star and those sought in the lawsuits. In a statement to The Star, the FBI declined to confirm it sent the memo, but confirmed it sends such “products” to law enforcement.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Dr. Alexander Sin by Vanderbilt Health and “Vanderbilt Medical center North” by Vanderbilt Hustler/Hallie Williams
