Diana Blum is an American neurologist and anti-transgender activist. Blum is a conservative Republican involved in the “parental rights” movement.
Background
Diana Portnoy Blum was born on January 26, 1977. Blum graduated from Lowell High School in San Francisco in 1995, earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Davis in 1999, then earned a medical degree at University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 2004. Blum completed neurology residency at Stanford University.
Blum was a shareholder-physician at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) from 2009 until resigning in 2013 and filing a lawsuit against PAMF. Blum pushed back against policies that allegedly harmed patients, and Blum believed that administrators retaliated for that. Blum rejected a settlement offer of $201,000 and was awarded $28,415 for a breach of contract, and the retaliation claims were dismissed or withdrawn. Blum was ordered to pay PAMF $1.3 million in legal fees, which Blum appealed.
Blum’s advocacy centers around “defending Hippocratic Oath medicine and the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship through education and activism.”
Blum attends Congregation Beth Jacob and has two children, Riley and Sasha, with spouse Scott Daniel Blum (born 1975).
Anti-trans activism
Blum is part of the “parental rights” movement critical of “tribalism,” a code word for teaching about issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), like ethnic and gender studies. In a letter to their congregation, Blum recommended empoweredpathways.org, moralcourage.com, theoryofenchantment.com, and fairforall.org/fair-schools as alternatives to the school syllabus.
Blum is a founding fellow of FAIR in Medicine.
Blum posted concerns about gender affirming care for minors:
“Hardest part for me is watching parents who genuinely want what is best for their kids be led down a painful, often irreversible path, all because of a captured and corrupt medical system.
Couple that with k-12 public school activist teachers pushing developmentally innapropriate materials in the classroom, wasting precious time and resources away from actual education.”
In 2024, Blum filed a complaint against John McBlair and Karl Losekoot of Sequoia Union High School District, which was denied.
Blum’s comment in an anti-trans article by The Daily Caller was quoted in an amicus curiae briefing in support of Tennessee in Skrmetti v. Tennessee: “According to California physician Dr. Diana Blum, ‘[i]f Pfizer is producing hormone therapies then of course there’s incentives to promote studies that push those. Even though things get published in academic journals, a lot of the funding comes from the pharmaceutical industry.” The brief was submitted by America’s Future, Public Advocate of the United States, Eagle Forum, Eagle Forum Foundation, U.S. Constitutional Rights Legal Defense Fund, Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation, LONANG Institute, Restoring Liberty Action Committee, and Conservative Legal Def. and Ed. Fund.
In 2025, Blum was on a panel at the anti-trans Censorship in the Sciences conference titled Censorship Around Gender Research and Medicine. The panel was chaired by Sally Satel. Other panelists were anti-trans activists Carole Hooven and J. Michael Bailey
References
Steele, Eli (Mar 03, 2024). Great Kickoff For “Killing America.” Man of Steele https://manofsteele.substack.com/p/great-kickoff-for-killing-america
Duggan, Laurel (March 8, 2022). Trans Activists Funded By Big Pharma Push Biased Research Promoting Medical Transitions For Children. Daily Caller https://dailycaller.com/2022/03/06/transgender-activism-pharmaceutical-studies-children/ alt url: https://tennesseestar.com/news/trans-activists-funded-by-big-pharma-push-biased-research-promoting-medical-transitions-for-children/admin/2022/03/08/
Matthews, Merrill (January 28, 2022). Med School Goes Full Woke. Institute for Policy Innovation. https://www.ipi.org/ipi_issues/detail/med-school-goes-full-woke
Ho, Catherine (September 8, 2018). Bay Area doctor’s legal fight highlights medical industry pressures. San Francisco Chronicle https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Bay-Area-doctor-s-legal-fight-highlights-13214091.php
Selected writing by Blum
Blum, Diana (March 13, 2024). What Are They Afraid Of? Jewish Journal https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/opinion/369167/what-are-they-afraid-of/
Blum, Diana (October 17, 2024). Banning honors classes in the name of ‘equity?’ San Mateo Daily Journal https://www.smdailyjournal.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/banning-honors-classes-in-the-name-of-equity/article_f862ae56-8c22-11ef-bc2a-a7bef964ef08.html
FAIR For All (January 2024). An Open Letter to the American Psychiatric Association Regarding the Publication of Gender-Affirming Psychiatric Care. https://www.fairforall.org/open-letters/open-letter-apa/
Blum, Diana (March 18, 2022). Ethnic Studies – A Letter From Diana Blum. Congregation Beth Jacob https://www.bethjacobrwc.org/rs-blog.html?post_id=1303390
Media
Man of Steele Productions (February 24, 2024). Killing America Trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2l3KX2DycE
MD Coaches LLC . Rx for Success (September 20, 2024). 109. The Specialist: Diana Blum, MD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kWgGWpQbuU
Resources
Peninsula Private Neurology (peninsulaprivateneurology.com)
Facebook (facebook.com)
X/Twitter (x.com)