About Dr. Yetsa Tuakli
Yetsa Tuakli received her undergraduate degree from Yale University, her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and her master’s in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She completed Physiatry residency at the University of Maryland and an Interventional Spine and Sports Medicine fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Currently, Dr. Tuakli is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Yale School of Public Health and a Physiatrist at Core Medical Group.
Dr. Tuakli is also active in local and international sports communities, focusing on athletes with disabilities, and athletes who have experienced trauma. She represented Ghana as a member of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) medical committee from 2014-2018, and was the IPC’s inaugural Welfare Officer at the 2016 Paralympic Games. In 2015, Dr. Tuakli was elected to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Working Group for the Prevention of Harassment and Abuse in Sport. She was named Chair of the World Obstacle Course Racing (FISO) Safeguarding Committee, and appointed to the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Medical Committee in 2018. In the same year, the International Society for Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM) invited her to Chair a Task Force on Physical Activity for Persons with Disabilities, with a focus on mobility solutions for persons with disabilities in low-resource settings. Additionally, she currently serves as an Advisor to the US Center for SafeSport, where her focus is safeguarding athletes with disabilities.
As a post-collegiate athlete, she represented Ghana internationally in the women’s long jump until the 2016 Olympic Games. Her Sports Equity Research Lab at Yale focuses on themes of safety (e.g. preventing harassment and abuse) and inclusion (e.g. diversity and equity) in sports and society. Dr. Tuakli believes when we better understand sports’ flaws, we can craft durable solutions and allow sport to do what it does best: teach society how to find higher ground, and spark joy.