William Edwards Bynum IV

My primary academic interest focuses on how medical learners experience self-conscious emotion (shame, guilt, and pride) as they progress through medical training.  My research to-date has focused on understanding and characterizing medical residents' experiences of shame, and our findings suggest that major shame events can be intense, debilitating experiences that can lead to a host of negative outcomes and may be influenced by the learning environment and personal characteristics such as perfectionism.  My future research plans, which I hope to pursue through a PhD program, seek to 1) characterize shame experiences across the continuum of medical education, focusing on how changes in context influence the shame experiences of medical students, residents, and practicing physicians, and 2) build a theory of shame resilience in medical learners and providers.