Russell Reid

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Russell Reid is a consultant psychiatrist specialising in sexual and gender-related conditions. He is particularly known for his work with gender identity disorder patients, from which he retired in February 2006. His successor is Richard Curtis. Reid grew up in New Zealand and works privately in the United Kingdom. Britain's best-known expert on gender reassignment, he is a member of the parliamentary forum on transsexualism.

Reid is currently under investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC), the regulatory body for doctors in the UK. A serious professional misconduct hearing opened in October 2006 to investigate charges that he had inappropriately treated five patients, allegedly rushing them into sex changing treatments. The disciplinary hearing is expected to conclude in March 2007.

The inquiry follows complaints brought by four doctors from the main NHS transgender clinic at Charing Cross hospital, west London, and some of his former patients. It is alleged that he breached international standards of care, set by the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA) by inappropriately prescribing cross-gender hormones to patients and referring them for genital reassignment surgery without adequate assessment.

Reid has received support from other experts in the field and more than 150 patients, according to Britain's main transgender lobby group Press for Change. Christine Burns, vice president of PFC, told the Guardian newspaper in June 2004: "Dr Reid is highly respected and regarded by the vast majority of transsexual people in the UK."

Reid was a member of an expert committee set up by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to draw up new UK care guidelines on the treatment of gender identity disorder. He stepped down as a member of the group in the wake of the GMC inquiry.