The goal of this MBB faculty interest group on Transgender and Gender Diversity in Youth is to bring together faculty members from across Harvard University (see list) who share an interest in this topic, in an effort to foster cross-disciplinary perspectives for understanding, treating and preventing mental health disparities associated with gender minority stress. Gender minorities, including transgender and gender non-binary (i.e., transgender or gender diverse, TGD), are individuals for whom gender identity differs from sex assigned at birth. TGD individuals are at high risk for adverse mental health, including greater prevalence of lifetime suicidality and substance abuse, relative to cisgender peers. These risks are partially explained by peer victimization and depressive symptoms, consistent with a minority stress model. Adolescence is a time of marked risk taking, sensation seeking and emotion dysregulation, regardless of gender identity, with neurobiological models suggesting evidence for prospective biomarkers of vulnerability for later substance use and psychopathology. Indeed, TGD youth exposed to minority stress have substantially elevated risk for negative behavioral health outcomes during adolescence, e.g., 2-3 times greater risk for depression, anxiety, suicidality, self-harm, and need for mental health treatment, and 2.5-4 times higher prevalence of substance abuse compared to cisgender peers. To understand these vulnerabilities, it is crucial to fill enormous gaps in what is known about developmental processes in TGD youth, how neurobiology is impacted by risk factors, e.g., peer rejection, felt stigma, perceived stress and childhood maltreatment, and by protective factors, e.g., parental, peer/school connectedness, resilience and self-efficacy. The faculty interest group will consist of an interdisciplinary group of clinical experts and representatives from community organizations, approximately 25 participants, across a wide range of expertise, to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and inform research proposals. The end products are an email lists of faculty interested in this topic, and a daylong workshop/retreat, which will feature presentations by faculty interest group leaders (Drs. Silveri, Harris, Katz-Wise, Keuroglian and Somerville), a keynote presentation by a national expert (TBD) on the impacts of minority stress in TGD youth, an opportunity for representatives from community-affiliated organizations (already established collaborations with faculty interest group leaders) to provide much needed insight from the clinic, and a brain storming session over ways to further enhance this line of research at Harvard. The faculty interest group leaders have an NIH grant pending review, knowing that a single grant (if funded) is insufficient to approach this complicated and complex line of research. This faculty interest group would therefore provide an effective vehicle for uniting faculty members from across the Harvard University to discuss and explore questions and issues of common interest related to disparities associated with gender identity.