Randi Joy Cahan Ettner PhD

Randi Joy Cahan Ettner (born 1952) is an American clinical and forensic psychologist known for her work with transgender people. A native of Lincolnwood, Illinois, Ettner completed her undergraduate degree at Indiana University, where she earned the Outstanding Psychology Student Award and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She then earned her M.A. from Roosevelt University. She began working with transgender people in 1977 at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. She received her Ph.D. in psychology at Northwestern University, writing her dissertation on childbirth. Ettner had additional training at Moray House School of Education in Scotland.

Ettner is the founder of New Health Foundation Worldwide and works with her husband, physician Frederic M. “Fred” Ettner. She referred transgender patients to surgeon Eugene Schrang until his retirement. Ettner is a member of the American Psychological Association and is a Fellow, Diplomate, and served on the Board of Directors from 2001 to 2005 for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

She has helped pass anti-discrimination laws, provided testimony on behalf of trans people seeking workplace rights, and works to secure appropriate treatment for prisoners. She has also been a critic of psychologist J. Michael Bailey and his 2003 book The Man Who Would Be Queen.[5] Bailey has stated his book was initially motivated by what he saw as “gross inaccuracies in Ettner’s account of transsexualism.” Ettner works to improve understanding of trans issues and has spoken out against attitudes used to justify violence against trans people.