Episode 08: Letisha Wyatt, PhD
The following interview was conducted in-class, during the Spring 2021 session of Hidden Figures: Brain Science through Diversity, taught by Dr. Adema Ribic at the University of Virginia. What follows is an edited transcript of the interview, transcribed by Amman Akram, Emma Sisk, and Schuyler Leffler, who also drafted Dr. Wyatt’s biography. The final editing was by Dr. Adema Ribic. The original recordings are available in Podcasts.
Dr. Letisha Wyatt is currently the Director of Diversity in Research and assistant professor of neurology at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). A California native, Dr. Wyatt came from a blue-collar working household. She majored in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior at UC Davis. She worked in a CRO (contract research organization) post-graduation for 2 years, before embarking on the Ph.D. at the University of Santa Cruz. Her doctoral work was mentored by Ron Alkana and Daryl Davies’ and was focused on understanding the role of purinergic receptors in alcohol abuse disorder.
Dr. Wyatt joined OHSU and co-founded the Alliance for Visible Diversity in Science program: a student-led advocacy group aiming to increase racial and ethnic equity within research programs. Dr. Wyatt has also been successful in creating and is currently the director of the Neuroscience Postbaccalaureate Initiative (NPBI) at OHSU. This program is a one-year, full-time research training experience for students from underrepresented backgrounds who are interested in pursuing neuroscience as a career through graduate education or a Ph.D.
Dr. Wyatt, where are you from?
I grew up in a small town called Turlock in Central California. At the time of my graduation from high school, the population was about 55 K. It has one college, California State University Stanislaus, which has approximately 10,000 students. Turlock is considered the heart of the valley and has a lot of agricultural industry there. It's a very working-class kind of town. My dad was a truck driver, my mom was a cosmetologist and she did hair in town. Neither of them went to college.
How did your path to college look like? You didn’t end up at Stanislaus.
I went to Turlock High School from 1986 to 2000. It was the one and only High School in town. I really liked science and loved English and writing in high school. I really disliked PE, and I didn't like math very much, which is kind of funny considering science can be very math-heavy. I also was really involved with a number of extracurricular activities: I was in a marching band, I played the flute, and was a cheerleader. Turlock had a reputation of being very much like the TV show Friday Night Lights: on Friday nights, folks bleed over, people playing football, and cheerleaders on the sideline.
Did you know you wanted to go into science then or later?
I didn't have any kind of major career aspirations approaching the end of high school. I was thinking maybe I wanted to be a teacher or some sort of school counselor or guidance counselor. I didn't really have any sort of idea about going to college until one of my history teachers asked me where was I applying. I never really considered going to college because all I knew is that it was expensive and seemed out of reach for my family. But this teacher encouraged me to consider it. I had a little bit of money to pay for my entry exams and to apply to a few schools, and I did just that. My parents couldn't offer any sort of support or guidance in those ways. I applied to three colleges and got into all three of them. I ended up going to UC Davis for its reputation of training folks in science and preparedness for medical school.
Did you want to go to medical school?
When I entered college, I just assumed since I love science, and was going to college, that I should be going as a pre-med, and then I should consider going to med school. That was really the only thing I knew as a career path. I entered UC Davis as a biological sciences pre-med. By the time I graduated, I had actually switched my major, and I changed to the Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior major. The major was all about understanding the nervous and endocrine systems, and the mechanisms at the cell level the organ system level, and the organism level.
Was switching from pursuing medicine to science a difficult choice to make?
That was easy for me. I think that the moment when I realized that I wasn't cut out for medicine was my internship in the pediatric ER. I am surprisingly squeamish and I just couldn't see a lot of the things that I saw. But I knew I loved science, and I wanted to figure out another way to use that interest and passion.
Did you work in the lab during undergrad?
Yes, at the time of taking upper-division courses, that's when I really got exposed to bench research. I also worked, primarily outside of college, almost full-time. Being a first-generation college student, I was expected to support myself through school so I was paying my tuition and living expenses. I also continued cheerleading and picked up a music minor. I was also in the Gospel Choir.
Did you find navigating through college hard, being a first-gen student?
Yes, the transition into college was challenging. It took me some time to really acclimate to the environment, to understand the process, and to identify a network of advisors and mentors that I could trust and share my needs and concerns with. It took me an extra year to graduate and when I finished I had a GPA of 2.9. I had some struggles academically, especially in those first couple of years, but I don't think that my academic record is reflective of my potential.
What did you do after graduating?
I knew that I wanted to continue pursuing research and, but I didn't have a whole lot of research experience outside of my coursework. I took two years off and I eventually got a job working full time at a contract research organization. I was a data and project manager, and it was really great for me to understand how regulatory science works, how FDA compliance works, and to figure out how to manage data from these large-scale studies, and multi-site clinical studies. I would say these gap years were very formative for my entry into grad school. I applied to grad school after my second year, and I applied to two grad programs. I had decided that I was really interested in doing neuroscience research that was looking at the reward system and understanding the mechanisms behind addiction.
Why were you interested in such a specific topic early on in your career?
It was a personal interest of mine just because of how addiction has impacted family and close friends.
Which two schools did you apply for?
I applied to the University of Southern California and Los Angeles and, funny story, I also applied to Oregon Health and Science University where I work now. I did not receive an interview at OHSU, but I did at USC, and I was shocked. I started in 2007 and ended up switching to a different program after my first year as a neuroscience grad student. This was brought about by a lot of changes that were taking place within the grad program at the time, but also because the work that I intended to do was just better suited for the School of Pharmacy.
Which lab did you join?
I did my dissertation work in the alcohol and brain research lab of Drs Ron Alkana and Daryl Davies.
What did you work on?
When I joined the alcohol and brain research lab at the time, a lot of the work was in vitro which means in a dish. I wanted to bring the aspect of in vivo work to the field with the ultimate goal to develop new and more effective therapies for alcohol use disorders. My work was funded by an NIH predoctoral fellowship and focused on purinergic receptors called P2X receptors. These are ligand-gated ion channels. Their signaling molecule is ATP, adenosine triphosphate, and the receptors allow the ions sodium, potassium, and calcium to enter after opening (mediated by ATP binding). I was studying type 4 or the P2X4, which is the most abundantly expressed subtype in the central and peripheral nervous systems. The research focus of my doctoral work was the functional consequences of altered P2X4 receptor expression in vivo.
What were your main findings?
We found that mice that lack P2X4 drink significantly more alcohol compared to the control animals. My work provided the first direct evidence supporting our hypothesis that P2X4 receptors play a role in regulating. We ultimately concluded that alterations of P2X4 receptor expression, or its function, are related to the propensity to drink and may influence the risk for alcohol use disorders.
Is grad school where you started getting involved in outreach?
Yes, one of the things that I was thinking a lot about was lab culture: how effective and efficient are we at organizing our work and collaborating with each other. How are we mentoring, and how thoughtful and intentional are we in those processes. I was doing a lot of outreach to underserved communities in the local area for USC, as well as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work at USC so that I could see more folks like myself. I found myself being the only person of color or sometimes the only woman in certain spaces for most of my academic career.
Where did you do your postdoc?
I took a postdoc in 2013 after graduation from USC at the legacy Research Institute here in Portland, Oregon. I joined the down or biology lab that was led by Dr. Detlev Boison who has moved on since I ended my postdoc, but the lab was investigating the adenosine hypothesis of neurologic conditions, including epilepsy, stroke, Parkinson's disease, and traumatic brain injury.
What did you work on?
My main project was characterizing the role of adenosine and adenosine kinase expression in neurogenesis and brain repair after stroke. I found that altering adenosine kinase expression can increase neurogenesis after stroke. Around that time, I had to leave the lab and I had a baby. I started to think about what I was going to do after my postdoc, how do I want to build my career, and a lot of those extracurricular activities and interests in outreach, mentoring and supporting people from un-traditional backgrounds, and supporting women in their research careers were of great interest to me.
Is that interest what brought you to OHSU?
I entered OHSU as a faculty librarian-my official job title was the basic science liaison. I was expected to work with basic scientists on campus on their research needs. When I first started at OHSU, I got quickly affiliated with the neuroscience graduate program in the Vollum Institute, due to my background in neuroscience and interest in working with trainees. More recently I transitioned to a faculty position in the Department of Neurology so I'm no longer working in the library. I also have taken on an administrative role as the director of diversity and research.
This seems like a very multifaceted position. Can you give a few examples of the projects you are working on?
When I came into this role as a basic science liaison and supporting researchers at OHSU, I got really excited that I could be able to help people deal with big data. I wanted to see how can we develop methods and how can we train the next generation of scientists around rigorous and reproducible data practices. I still continue to do that work with a lot of the graduate programs, thinking about open science and open data, and really helping people understand all of the things that they need to be prepared for when you're a researcher. This includes a lot of things that I felt like I learned just as a trial and error as a graduate student, and I would have really benefited from an actual course. I was able to create exactly that-a a research methods course centered around modern science and reproducibility, and I still do a lot of that work today.
What do you do as the director for diversity in research?
I am the faculty advisor and co-founder of the Alliance for Visible Diversity in Science. It's a student-led advocacy group at OHSU with a mission to increase racial and ethnic equity within research programs. We are devising ways to advocate for policy changes at OHSU and other institutions that would create a more equitable culture and space for people from a variety of backgrounds, and especially for people from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds. The group has been really influential on campus and has published a lot of work, which I'll share the link with for anybody who wants to check out.
Do you direct any other student initiatives?
Yes. I am the current director of the Neuroscience Post-Baccalaureate Initiative (NPBI), which I created from scratch and it's going into its fourth year now. This is a one-year, full-time research training experience for people from underrepresented backgrounds. These folks are people who are interested in a neuroscience career, pursuing a Ph.D. or graduate education, and are looking for mentorship and guidance. As a first-generation student and somebody who is always the one person of color in a lot of these spaces, it's essential that we have programs like these to help and mentor and advise folks along the way.
Are your efforts focused solely on postbaccalaureate students?
No. I also co-direct the OHSU Fellowship for Diversity and Research which is a postdoctoral Career Development Program that allows postdocs from underrepresented backgrounds to be able to persist in academic research and move forward in their career. More recently, I have taken on a role as the director of innovative policy at the Vollum Institute that houses their neuroscience grad program. Within this work, we're really thinking about ways to improve the culture around racial equity in the academic research setting.
What would you like to see changed?
A lot of the work that I've been doing is thinking about ways can we reform our policies on combating racial bias in graduate admissions. As I shared with you earlier, I had a 2.9 GPA and a lot of folks would say that's not competitive and there's no way that I would get into grad school with a GPA below a three. We really need to think critically about what kinds of standards we have and how we interpret those standards and how reliable those metrics are for really being inclusive for everybody who might want to participate in science.
Who inspires you in your work?
There are a number of people in academic research that I identify with that are doing a lot of work in this area Dr. John Matsui at UC Berkeley runs a program called the Bioscholars Program, Renee Navarro at UC San Francisco is the Chief Diversity and Inclusion officer there. Dr. Kenneth Gibbs is at the NIH, and then a number of others who are leading efforts on culturally aware mentoring and transforming the culture at an institution.
Have you experienced discrimination from when you started out as a basic science researcher to where you are now?
Yes, unfortunately, as a woman of color I think that I see a lot of microaggressions. For example, the pre-doctoral fellowship that I had (the NRSA) is one that many grad students apply for and the NIH hosts a general pool and a diversity pool for folks from underrepresented backgrounds. Following the advice of my mentor, I ended up applying for the general pool even though I knew that the diversity one existed. I got the general NRSA and everybody just kind of assumed that I was the recipient of the diversity NRSA. In fact, I had a lot of people comment to my face, “oh you obviously got that because you are black”. I was on the receiving end of a lot of those things which folks may not even fully understand how harmful they are.
How do you advise your trainees to navigate through such situations?
One of my strategies is to define who are my allies and people that I feel like I can count on. When I go into such hostile environments, I want an ally by my side to have my back. Identify your allies early and build a network of them.
What accomplishment are you most proud of in your work and how do you hope to expand upon this, if at all?
To be honest, I would say that I'm most proud of the trainees that I have worked with. A lot of the work that I'm doing now is helping folks get to where they want to go, in particular people from underrepresented backgrounds. It gives me the most fulfillment and joy when people are getting into grad school, and once they're there they feel like they made the right choice and that they're happy and well adjusted.
What do you think the biggest barrier is to getting these underrepresented groups into research? Do you think that your institution is doing enough to provide these opportunities and getting these underrepresented groups into research and beyond?
I really think that the biggest barriers are our culture, the environment, and the framework in which we operate as a scientific enterprise. I think that in order to really make space for people from all backgrounds, we need to have people in the decision-making ranks be more diverse. There's also the issue of retention. Once we get people into these spaces, what are we doing to make sure that the culture and the environment allow them to stay there or makes them feel welcome enough to want to stay. Oregon Health and Science University- I think that they are really trying. There are certain areas and departments that are invested and some that are still on their journey. I think this is true in a lot of academic institutions across the US I think a lot of schools are grappling with this issue. OHSU could do more, but I think everybody could do more.
Do you think that the scientific community as a whole is being receptive to bringing underrepresented groups and women into science?
I think the scientific community is on a spectrum. It is also at a point of awareness-raising-we're starting to understand how complex this issue is. What we thought were reasonable solutions are not maybe the most impactful ones. In the end, we need to figure out how to move the needle. I think where the tension lies is that a lot of folks don't know how to move the needle, so what I'm finding is that people are receptive and aware but they really kind of get stuck thinking about what can we do and where do we start. It feels like an intractable, complex, problem: how can we see change, and where do we start. I'm hoping that my work and the work of the folks that I'm inspired will really start to move the needle.
This interview was conducted during the Spring Session of UVA’s Hidden Figures class in 2021. Class roster:
Addis, Lucas; Ahmed, Anushey; Akram, Amman; Alam, Maisha; Anderson, Sydney; Bhatia, Rhianna; Bonagiri, Paavan; Booth, Morgan; Clarke, Casey; Fisher, Grayson; Gandhi, Shreyal; Hossain, Mohammed; Rayan; Jensen, Kate; Kim, Michael; Lahham, Zina; Lea-Smith, Kori; Leffler, Schuyler; Leventhal, Emily; Mehfoud, Matthew; Morrisroe, Erin; Pham, Twindy; Sajonia, Isabelle; Sisk, Emma; Suram, Ananya; Wang, Jessica Beth; Webster, Tessa; Wilson, Gina. TA: McDonald, Amalia. Instructor: Ribic, Adema, PhD.
