July 19, 2023, By Kendi Neff-Parvin
A professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, chair of the UW–Madison Institute for Diversity Science, and a vocational psychologist, Byars-Winston has followed her own advice. Nationally recognized for her research on the impact of cultural influences on academic and career development — especially for women and individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM) fields — Byars-Winston has a record of growing where she is planted.
The California native earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in counselor education from San Diego State University, which she chose primarily for its affordability. About her time there, Byars-Winston reflects, “It made me who I am. I couldn’t have imagined how that place and the experiences I had there would launch my sense of myself as a scientist, as a leader.”
Next, she completed a predoctoral clinical fellowship at the University of Maryland and a doctoral degree in counseling psychology from Arizona State University, where she was one of only two Black doctoral students … Read full article