Navy Ensign Sets Course with Commitment and Determination: The Journey of Brelahn Wyatt
By Vivian Mason
[Editor’s Note: This article is the last of a four-part series profiling USU medical students and their medical school journeys to commemorate Black History Month.]
“Once you have the commitment, you need the discipline and hard work to get you there.” ― Haile Gebrselassie
Doctors find their calling in many different ways. Navy Ensign Brelahn Wyatt had an experience early in life that confirmed that medicine was the career for her, and through her commitment and determination, she now finds herself as a fourth-year medical student at the Uniformed Service University’s F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine working toward a career as a general obstetrician/gynecologist.
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| Ensign Wyatt visiting the popular Pike's Place Market while in Washington state for her anesthesia rotation. (Photo credit: Ensign Brelahn Wyatt, USU) |
Wyatt describes her journey as pretty traditional. Her mother was a healthcare administrator, and her father was an insurance agent. They instilled in her the value of hard work, studying, and doing her best. She attended a school founded by French nuns, which gave her a particular appreciation for the French language and culture that she would later expand upon in college, but also found that she excelled at math and science. Specifically, she found the workings of the human body fascinating, and her appetite for knowledge was insatiable. Even when she went to the doctor, Wyatt’s pediatrician could tell that she had an interest in medicine and often talked with her, answered questions, and encouraged her. As a result, her parents got her involved in all kinds of activities and camps that focused on science and medicine.
“Honestly,” Wyatt acknowledges, “I can’t remember a time that I wanted to be anything other than a doctor, and I’ll be the first physician in my family. I’ve been committed to my dream for quite a while.”
Wyatt would go on to complete her undergraduate degree at the University of Alabama, majoring in biology and French. In preparation for medical school applications, she did research on the role of genetics in developing type 2 diabetes using Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism. Wyatt also shadowed a variety of family medicine and pediatric providers, gaining an appreciation of the clinic workflow and professional interactions. However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Wyatt found that she struggled with organic chemistry, and had to take the MCAT twice.
“I think the road to medicine cannot be without trials,” Wyatt notes. “I learned to adapt my study style to the current challenge and not be as stuck in my ways of how I achieved success in the past.” She confesses that, in retrospect, the academic trials were the hardest for her. Wyatt believes that the process of gaining medical knowledge challenges everything you’ve learned academically up to that point. It pushes you to your limit. Wyatt notes that she’s had a variety of amazing and inspirational mentors, and “a really good support system. [They have] made all the other stuff easier.”
When it came to applying for a medical school, Wyatt admits that she didn’t even know that USU existed. However, she was “committed to going the military path,” and USU managed to find its way on her radar, encouraging further investigation.
“I liked the idea of doing community medicine,” Navy Ensign Brelahn Wyatt explains. “I thought it was a good combination to go to medical school and be in the military so that I could simultaneously learn about military healthcare.”
After interview day at USU, Wyatt noted that she “really felt as though [she] had found ‘[her] people,’ so to speak.” Wyatt adds that, even now in her fourth year, her favorite part of USU is still the community, explaining that the biggest lesson she’s learned at USU is that being sensitive to what each person brings to an encounter can greatly influence the medical care that the patient receives, and that a good sense of camaraderie can only help. “There’s [also] a good sense of community among the minority students at USU, as well as with the minority faculty who go above and beyond to reach out to the students,” Wyatt says.
A love of the OB/GYN specialty was born during the first rotation of Wyatt’s clerkship year. It was then that she realized how important women’s health was to her. “When all is said and done,” she says, “I want to be a general OB/GYN.”
In 2021, Wyatt’s writing and research culminated in a published abstract with eight other authors in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility. She was listed as a co-contributor to “Where Are We Now? Understanding Trends in Reproductive Health Disparities Research Over the Last 20 Years.”
Soon, Wyatt will be doing a clinical rotation at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. She has also matched into a transitional year internship at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and will likely be adding in a General Medical Officer tour before she reapplies to OB/GYN, which will help prepare her for her goal of becoming a leader. Wyatt notes that she’s taken on plenty of leadership positions at USU and become involved with informal mentorship projects to further that goal, which she concedes is every bit as important to her as medicine.
“I hope to be a leader who uplifts those I work with and continues to help guide other underrepresented minorities pursue their medical careers,” Wyatt affirms, acknowledging that “it’s challenging to lead as you figure out the processes yourself. But, I think that there’s also value in using circumstances I’ve gone through to back up the advice that I give.”
Reminiscing on those circumstances, Wyatt offers a moment of wisdom, saying that it’s natural to feel imposter syndrome – believing that you are not as competent as others believe you are – as a student and that she didn’t get much guidance about that aspect of the medical school experience, but with persistence and determination, she figured it out for herself, “like all of us do.”
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| Ensign Wyatt (second from left) at Operation Bushmaster in October 2021 with members of her platoon as they strategize how to care for critically ill patients en route while considering the logistics of traveling in theater. (Courtesy photo) |
Wyatt laughs, recalling herself as a first-year student at USU believing that all of the fourth-year students had it all figured out. “They seemed to be on top of everything,” she continues. “But now I’m a fourth-year student, and I think it’s a bit comical that some first-year student may think that I know it all. Sometimes it still surprises me that I’m that same person just three years later. Yet, I’ve gained an appreciation for the fact that no one knows it all. It’s humanly impossible to know everything. But, with the right collections and resources, you don’t have to know it all to be a great physician.”
This soon-to-be doctor knows that medicine is a lot more than just symptoms, illness, disease, prevention, and treatment. Wyatt has learned that it’s really about human interactions that make medicine what it is on a day-to-day basis, and believes that it’s an honor to be intimately involved in healthcare that can transform another human being’s life. She looks forward to uplifting those underrepresented minorities entering the field of medicine, and acknowledges once more the journey she took to get to this point.
“I can’t say that I fully anticipated what my life would look like, but I think that you become more comfortable as you are able to roll with the punches. You realize that eventually things are going to work out.” Wyatt catches herself, remarking that no one could have imagined medical school during a pandemic. Laughing, she concludes: “If we can survive that, we can figure things out and get back on the right track.”
