Tasha Wyatt PhD

Biography

For as long as I can remember, I have been keenly aware of how our racial and cultural backgrounds influence who we are, what we know, and the way society treats us. Some of us adopt dominant ways of being as a means of survival in systems not made for us, whereas others resist it desperately trying to hold on to what they value. Each of these decisions comes at a cost and not to be taken lightly.

As an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University (USU)'s Center for Health Professions Education (CHPE), I study how larger systems of power and oppression shape who we are as medical professionals. I center the voices of those who have been most disadvantaged in our systems and the consequence this has had on their identities.

Prior to conducting research in medical education, I studied the intersection of learners’ race, ethnicity, and culture in educational systems that were not designed for them. I worked with educational leaders at the Ministry of Education in Greenland for four years to remove a Danish colonial model of education and replace it with an indigenous Greenlandic model that supported thier language, culture, and history. Prior to that, I worked on behalf of Native Hawaiians with similar efforts.

As a critical scholar in medical education, I now study topics such as the professional identity formation of physicians underrepresented in medicine (UiM), acts of professional resistance among trainees in medical education, and the intersection of race/racism in medicine. In every case, I strive to use decolonial methods and/or bricolage to deconstruct dominant narratives and make visible the ways that larger forces shape professionals in clinical and training environments.

I have been well-recognized for my thought leadership through multiple teaching and research awards, numerous grants, and multiple publications in top peer reviewed journals. I am also frequently asked to speak both nationally and internationally on the topics that I study.

Representative Bibliography

Wooten, R., Gillette, C., Wyatt, T.R., Rockich-Winston, N. & Crandall, S., “I’m on your side. I understand you.” Exploring the professional identity formation of racial/ethnic minoritized Physician Assistants, Journal of Physician Assistant Education, 2022

Ellaway, R. & Wyatt, T.R., When I say…resistance, Medical Education, http://doi.org/10.1111/medu.14870, 2022.

Wyatt, T. R., Ho, M. & Teherani, A. Centering criticality in medical education research: A synthesis of the 2022 RIME papers, Academic Medicine, 2022.

Zaidi, Z., Wyatt, T.R., Naidu, T. & Park, Y. A primer to critical race theory (CRT). Academic Medicine, 2022.

Wyatt, T. R., Winston, N., Crandall, S., Wooten, R. & Gillette, C. A Comparison of Professional Identity Experiences Between Black Physicians and Minoritized Physician Assistants, Journal of Physician Assistant Education, 2022.

Wyatt, T. R. Stepleman, L., Coleman, T., Robinson, L., Wylie, K., Levine, D. & Maihle, N. The Ovarian Cancer Academy: A New Approach to Training in Biomedical Research, Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 2022.

Wyatt, T. R. “The sins of our forefathers”: Reimagining research in health professions education, Advances in Health Sciences Education, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-022-10111-z.

Wyatt, T. R. & Zaidi, Z. Intersectionality: A means for centering power and oppression in research, Advances in Health Sciences Education, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-022-10110-0.

Rossi, A, Wyatt, T. R., Huggett, K. & Blanco, M. When I say…Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Medical Education, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.14812

Wyatt, T. R. & Zaidi, Z. Bricolage: A tool for race-related, historically situated complex research. Medical Education, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.14629.