This past year, the foundation received over 300 applicants, most of whom were desperate for assistance. A nation-wide selection committee comprised of anonymous transgender individuals chose the 2012 grantees based on financial need. After the grantees were selected, the foundation contacted the surgeons that the grantees selected as part of their application.
One of those surgeons – Dr. Christine McGinn at the Papillon Center in New Hope, Pennsylvania – agreed to assist the foundation.
Usually, the foundation provides funding for a grantee’s surgery, hospital fees, and anesthesia costs. Dr.McGinn generously donated her services, saving the foundation thousands of dollars. The foundation is able to keep these funds and put them towards a future grant.
Dr. McGinn is one of the nation’s leading surgeons specializing in gender-confirming surgery and an out transgender person herself. She has been featured on the GLAAD media award-nominated Anderson Cooper show and will be highlighted on the Dr. Oz Show on March 29, 2012. “I believe in what the Jim Collins Foundation is doing,” said Dr. McGinn. “I have been waiting for the right organization to collaborate with to give back to my community in this way, and I am happy to donate my services to a foundation and cause such as this.”