Jess Ting

History

A nationally recognized plastic surgeon, Dr. Jess Ting was at the peak of his career when, in March of 2016, he walked away from his old specialty and retrained in the emerging field of gender affirmation surgery. He became director of surgery at the newly created Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Movies

Born to Be
Born to Be
Self
Soon after New York state passed a 2015 law that health insurance should cover transgender-related care and services, director Tania Cypriano and producer Michelle Hayashi began bringing their cameras behind the scenes at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital, where this remarkable documentary captures the emotional and physical journey of surgical transitioning. Lending equal narrative weight to the experiences of the center’s groundbreaking surgeon Dr. Jess Ting and those of his diverse group of patients, BORN TO BE perfectly balances compassionate personal storytelling and fly-on-the-wall vérité. It’s a film of astonishing access—most importantly into the lives, joys, and fears of the people at its center.