Dr. Jody Herman

Biography

Jody L. Herman is a Williams Institute Scholar at UCLA School of Law, specializing in Public Policy. Herman's research focuses on the fiscal impacts of discrimination against transgender people, employer-provided health benefits for gender transition, and methodological development for identifying gender minorities through population-based surveys. She has explored minority stress, health issues, and suicidality among transgender individuals, emphasizing measurement of gender identity and the prevalence and impact of discrimination based on gender identity and expression. Herman has previously worked as a research consultant addressing voting rights within low-income minority communities and gender identity discrimination. She earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration from George Washington University, with her doctoral dissertation concentrating on anti-discrimination protections for transgender and gender non-conforming individuals in public facilities. Her impactful research has been widely cited in major news outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and PBS. Moreover, she co-authored the groundbreaking report "Injustice at Every Turn," based on the National Transgender Discrimination Survey conducted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality, and served as Co-Principal Investigator for the follow-up to this survey, contributing to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey which documented findings from the largest survey of transgender adults ever conducted in the United States.

Research Interests