Born and raised in Texas, Sheila Grace Newsom, MD, was aware of gender incongruence at a young age, but had no concept of what the process represented. Like many transgender women, she aggressively pursued alpha-male activities which effectively dampened the episodic urges to be a woman.

In high school, she was captain of the football team and a finalist for the "Young Texan of the Year" award. She attended Texas A&M for one year and was elected Class Vice-president. She went on to West Point, where she was captain of the baseball team and ranked second in the Corps chain of command her senior year. After graduation and Infantry commission, she received her Ranger tab and served for four years as a paratrooper. After a distinguished military career, she earned her MD, completed exhaustive training, and became a respected physician and partner in large nephrology practices.

Notable accomplishments include co-founding a branch of the National Kidney Foundation, receiving an appointment to serve on a state council, and being elected as an advisor to the West Point Association of Graduates. After a medical mission to Africa, she and family created a 501(c)(3) which funded construction of a new wing of a rural hospital in eastern Uganda. Upon retirement and a trip to Tibet, she became executive producer of an award-winning documentary, was elected as an officer for the Austin Film Society, and created Sheila Rising, LLC, a film production company. She volunteered for a year as a physician at Kind Clinic which offers free gender care. She is now in the second year of a PhD in Depth Psychology through Pacifica Graduate Institute. She continues to serve on the Development Committee of the West Point AOG, mentors several young women in transition, speaks to groups about her own transgender journey, and continues to write.