It has been a while, and I sincerely apologise for the long radio silence. So let us start again with a bang … and allow me to introduce Blair Hamilton. Blair is a PhD student based at the University of Brighton in the UK, and I know her through her involvement at BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine. Her primary research interests are the effects of gender-affirmative endocrine care on the athletic performance of Transgender Athletes. And our talk revolves around this topic. Blair is a transgender athlete herself, blessed with great goalkeeping skills. In our talk, we discuss the value of having experience with a topic to formulate your research and the pitfalls and challenges of remaining objective when you have a vested interest in your study’s outcomes. Yes, I challenged her a bit there. The main challenge was for her to provide a song for the mixtape of her life. After some deliberation, she came with the Killers - For Reasons unknown. 

I certainly enjoyed this conversation. Blair is doing amazing, groundbreaking work that will support future athletes in their quest to participate and enjoy the benefits and challenges of sports. Safely and inclusively. I appreciated Blair’s honesty. I stand with my argument that it is not easy to stay objective when you have a personal interest in the outcomes of your work. We always do to a certain extent .. but Blair is strongly grounded and stated - what I believe was the main message - whatever the outcome of your work, it will matter regardless of what you found.