Gail E. Wyatt

Wyatt received the American Psychological Association (APA) Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy Award in 1992.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy|url=https://www.apa.org/about/awards/public-policy?tab=3|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-03|website=www.apa.org}} 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."{{Cite journal|last=No authorship indicated|date=1993|title=Gail E. Wyatt.|url=https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037/h0090742|journal=American Psychologist|volume=48|issue=4|pages=372–375|doi=10.1037/h0090742|issn=1935-990X}}

Wyatt received the Carolyn Wood Sherif Award from the Society for the Psychology of Women in 1995.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Carolyn Wood Sherif Award|url=https://www.apadivisions.org/division-35/awards/sherif|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-03|website=www.apadivisions.org|language=en}} In 2017, she received the APA Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Field of Trauma Psychology {{Cite web|title=Awards & Honors {{!}} Division of Trauma Psychology|url=https://www.apatraumadivision.org/85/awards-honors.html|access-date=2020-12-03|website=www.apatraumadivision.org}} and in 2019, was named Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Gail E. Wyatt, Ph.D.|url=https://www.semel.ucla.edu/hhmb/team/gail-e-wyatt-phd|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}

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,{{Cite web|title=Faculty Database Production Server {{!}} David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA|url=https://people.healthsciences.ucla.edu/institution/personnel?personnel_id=9487|access-date=2020-10-20|website=people.healthsciences.ucla.edu}} 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.{{Cite web|last=POLLARD-TERRY|first=GAYLE|date=2004-01-03|title=A refined eye|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jan-03-et-pollard3-story.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-10-20|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}

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.{{Cite web|title=Recipients of 2016 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion awards|url=https://newsroom.ucla.edu/dept/faculty/recipients-of-2016-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-awards|access-date=2020-12-03|website=UCLA|language=en-US}}

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.{{Cite journal|last1=Williams|first1=John K.|last2=Wyatt|first2=Gail E.|last3=Myers|first3=Hector F.|last4=Green|first4=K. Nicole Presley|last5=Warda|first5=Umme S.|date=2008-06-05|title=Patterns in Relationship Violence Among African American Women: Future Research and Implications for Intervention|url= |journal=Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma|volume=16|issue=3|pages=296–310|doi=10.1080/10926770801925726|issn=1092-6771|pmc=3904364|pmid=24482570}} 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. .{{Cite news|last=Villarosa|first=Linda|date=2004-04-05|title=AIDS FEARS GROW FOR BLACK WOMEN (Published 2004)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/05/us/aids-fears-grow-for-black-women.html|access-date=2020-12-08|issn=0362-4331}} African American women whose age range from 25 to 44 are 13 times more likely to die of AIDS.{{Cite web|last=Cohen|first=Jon|date=2004-10-27|title=Black women and AIDS.|url=https://slate.com/technology/2004/10/black-women-and-aids.html|access-date=2020-12-08|website=Slate Magazine|language=en}}

Wyatt developed and validated the Wyatt Sexual History Questionnaire,{{Cite journal|last1=Wyatt|first1=Gail Elizabeth|last2=Lawrence|first2=Jennifer|last3=Vodounon|first3=Andrea|last4=Mickey|first4=M. Ray|date=1993-05-14|title=The Wyatt Sex History Questionnaire: A Structured Interview for Female Sexual History Taking|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J070v01n04_04|journal=Journal of Child Sexual Abuse|language=en|volume=1|issue=4|pages=51–68|doi=10.1300/J070v01n04_04|issn=1053-8712}} 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{{Cite journal|last1=Wyatt|first1=Gail|last2=Milburn|first2=Norweeta|title=The UCLA HIV/AIDS, Substance Abuse, and Trauma Training Program|url=https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R25-DA035692-05|language=en}} and the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH),{{Cite journal|last=Wyatt|first=Gail|title=NIMH Multisite HIV/STD Prevention Trial for African-American Couples|url=https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/U10-MH064404-08|language=en}} including a prestigious NIMH Research Scientist Career Development Award.{{Cite journal|last=Grimes|first=Tresmaine Rubain|date=2016-08-26|title=In Search of the Truth about History, Sexuality, and Black Women: An Interview with Gail E. Wyatt|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1207/s15328023top2601_20|journal=Teaching of Psychology|volume=26|pages=66–70|language=en|doi=10.1207/s15328023top2601_20|s2cid=144857071}}

• Wyatt, G. (1997). Stolen women: Reclaiming our sexuality, taking back our lives. Wiley.
• Wyatt, G. E., Newcomb, M. D., & Riederle, M. H. (1993). Sexual abuse and consensual sex: Women's developmental patterns and outcomes. Sage Publications, Inc.
• Wyatt, G. E. E., & Powell, G. J. E. (Eds.) (1988). Lasting effects of child sexual abuse. Sage Publications, Inc.
• Wyatt, G., & Wyatt Jr, L. (2004). No More Clueless Sex: 10 Secrets to a Sex Life That Works for Both of You. Wiley.

• Ganz, P. A., Rowland, J. H., Desmond, K., Meyerowitz, B. E., & Wyatt, G. E. (1998). Life after breast cancer: Understanding women's health-related quality of life and sexual functioning. Journal of Clinical Oncology , 16 (2), 501–514.
• Wyatt, G. E., Guthrie, D., & Notgrass, C. M. (1992). Differential effects of women's child sexual abuse and subsequent sexual revictimization. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 60 (2), 167–173.
• Wyatt, G. E., Loeb, T. B., Solis, B., Carmona, J. V., & Romero, G. (1999). The prevalence and circumstances of child sexual abuse: Changes across a decade. Child Abuse & Neglect, 23(1), 45–60.
• Wyatt, G. E., Longshore, D., Chin, D., Carmona, J. V., Loeb, T. B., Myers, H. F., ... & Rivkin, I. (2004). The efficacy of an integrated risk reduction intervention for HIV-positive women with child sexual abuse histories. AIDS and Behavior, 8(4), 453–462.
• Wyatt, G. E., Myers, H. F., Williams, J. K., Kitchen, C. R., Loeb, T., Carmona, J. V., ... & Presley, N. (2002). Does a history of trauma contribute to HIV risk for women of color? Implications for prevention and policy. American Journal of Public Health , 92 (4), 660–665.
• Wyatt, G. E., & Newcomb, M. D. (1990). Internal and external mediators of women's sexual abuse in childhood. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 58 (6), 758–767.

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Category:American women psychologists

Category:African-American psychologists

Category:American clinical psychologists

Category:HIV/AIDS researchers

Category:Sex therapists

Category:Fisk University alumni

Category:Living people

Category:1944 births

Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni

Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty

Category:21st-century African-American people

Category:20th-century African-American people

Category:20th-century African-American women

Category:21st-century African-American women

Category:20th-century American psychologists