Boston Children's Hospital Magazine Touted Nike-Funded Youth Transgender Athlete Study
Three weeks ago, OutKick first reported that evidence strongly suggested that sports apparel giant Nike funded a study on "transgender" youth athletes. Since then, the company has remained virtually silent about its alleged role. Perhaps Nike believes that ignoring it will make it go away.
At the time, the evidence that OutKick had were comments from researchers working on the study. Boston Children's Hospital attending physician and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical school Kathryn Ackerman said during a seminar in 2023: "Recently, we got some money from Nike, who wanted to study this more… they wanted to look at transgender folks who are going through the transition younger. So, if we are talking about athletes who are pausing puberty and then doing gender-affirming care and cross-hormonal treatment, what happens to them over time."
In a 2024 edition of "Boston Children's Hospital Magazine", the medical center promoted its youth transgender athlete study and said that Nike was funding the study, in part.
(Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A second researcher on the study, Joanna Harper (a biological male who "identifies" as a "transgender woman"), also publicly stated that Nike was funding the study in a recent interview with the New York Times.
Despite those public comments about Nike's financial commitment, the company has only given one comment to OutKick, and they were on background and not on the record. A Nike executive with knowledge of the situation told us that the study "was never initialized" and "is not moving forward."
Now, OutKick has uncovered additional evidence of Nike's role. In the winter 2024 edition of "Boston Children's Hospital Magazine," the medical center touted on page 23 its youth transgender athlete study, and its most important financier.
"Pioneering research, supported in part by Nike, Inc. and led by Boston Children's, is designed to answer key questions about physiologic and athletic changes resulting from gender-affirming care," the magazine states. "The study will fill a critical gap and inform future sports policy decisions."
A blurb in the Winter 2024 edition of "Boston Children's Hospital Magazine" mentions Nike as a funding source for a study on youth transgender athletes. (issuu.com/Boston Children's Hospital Magazine)
It's important to reiterate that Ackerman, the lead researcher on the study, works at Boston Children's Hospital.
OutKick reached out to Nike, again, to ask if they wanted to provide additional comments and/or context about their role in the study, given that Boston Children's Hospital promoted it and linked the sports apparel giant as a financial backer. As they have on almost every occasion, Nike did not respond to OutKick's request.
OutKick also reached out to Boston Children's Hospital to ask if the study was still ongoing and how much money Nike provided for the research. They also did not respond to our request.
So, Nike told OutKick the study "was never initialized" and is "not moving forward." Which means that Boston Children's Hospital was promoting a study that never even began? That seems unlikely. Unfortunately, no one will answer our questions. Their silence is deafening, but it's not going to stop our quest for answers.