Lunch & Keynote Address by Paula Neira

About the Keynote

Paula M. Neira graduated with distinction from the United States Naval Academy in May 1985. A Surface Warfare Officer, she served as a regular and reserve officer including serving in mine warfare combat during Operation Desert Storm. After leaving the Navy in 1991, she began her career in nursing, specializing in adult emergency care and trauma resuscitation. In 2015, she served as the co-chair of the Johns Hopkins Transgender Medicine Executive Taskforce. In November 2016, she became the founding Clinical Program Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender Health. In March of 2022, she was named as the Johns Hopkins Medicine Program Director of LGBTQ+ Equity and Education in the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity. She is an international expert on transgender healthcare policy.

As a lawyer, Paula was a leader in the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and in changing  military regulations to allow for transgender military service. In 2015, she became the first transgender Navy veteran to have her DD-214 updated to reflect her correct name by order of the Navy. In 2016, the Secretary of the Navy named her as the co-sponsor of USNS HARVEY MILK (T-AO 206) and in November 2021, she christened the ship in San Diego. In 2020, she was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in recognition of her leadership in advancing diversity and inclusion both in the United States Armed Forces and in healthcare. She is the first United States service academy graduate to achieve this honor in American nursing.