Gail E. Wyatt
Gail Elizabeth Wyatt (born 1944) is a clinical psychologist and board-certified sex therapist known for her research on consensual and abusive sexual relationships and their influence on psychological well-being. She is Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Wyatt was the first African American woman in the state of California to receive a license to practice psychology and first African American woman to be named a Full Professor of the UCLA School of Medicine. Awards. Wyatt received the American Psychological Association (APA) Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy  Award in 1992. The award citation noted her "research significantly advancing our understanding of the effects of abortion, childhood sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual practices among women, particularly African-American women, and establishing research methods and tools to create culturally appropriate measures of these critical issues." Wyatt received the Carolyn Wood Sherif Award from the Society for the Psychology of Women in 1995. In 2017, she received the APA Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Field of Trauma Psychology and in 2019, was named Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town. Biography. Wyatt was born  in Ft. Worth, TX in 1944. She attended Fisk University where she completed her bachelor's degree in 1965 and master's degree in 1975, under the mentorship of Henry Tomes. Wyatt worked for Lloyd Dunn as part of the effort to standardize the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and, subsequently, as a school psychologist in Baltimore, MD. In 1969, Wyatt began working as a research assistant at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Neuropsychiatric Institute and enrolled in the educational psychology program, where she was mentored by Norma Feshbach. Wyatt completed her dissertation, which focused on locus of control  and stressors experienced by low-income African-American mothers, and graduated with a PhD from UCLA in 1973. Wyatt continued on at UCLA and became the first African-American woman to receive training as a sex therapist at the Neuropsychiatric Institute (1974–1975). From there, she launched her clinical and research career, investigating sexual stereotypes and sexuality of African-American women. In 2016, while serving as Director of the Semel Institute's Center for Culture, Trauma and Mental Health Disparities, Wyatt was honored with the UCLA Faculty Career Commitment to Diversity DEI Award. Research. Wyatt has explored African-American women's  sexuality by tracing women's body images and sexual experiences from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. She has devoted much of her clinical practice to helping women cope with traumatic experiences including sexual assault, intimate partner violence, abortion, childhood sexual abuse, and sexually transmitted infection. In one of their studies, Wyatt and her research team conducted interviews of African-American women who were HIV positive or negative over the span of a year. Women who were HIV positive had more depressive symptoms, less education, and lower income as compared to women who were HIV negative, and they were more likely  to report experiencing intimate partner violence. Such findings underscore the women's vulnerability with implications for HIV and STD prevention efforts. In years prior there have been many concerns regarding African-American women and AIDS since it was mainly focused on those who have used drugs and/or had sex with users. . African American women whose age range from 25 to 44 are 13 times more likely to die of AIDS. Wyatt developed and validated the Wyatt Sexual History Questionnaire, a structured interview used to elicit women's consensual and coercive sexual experiences, that may be administered via telephone or face -to-face. Her research program has been funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH), including a prestigious NIMH Research Scientist Career Development Award.