Staff Spotlight: Lynne Tomasa, PhD

For this month’s Sonoran Center Staff Spotlight, we are meeting with Dr. Lynne Tomasa.

Dr. Tomasa is an assistant professor for the Department of Family and Community Medicine in the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, as well as an affiliated faculty member for the Sonoran Center.

We discuss Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Heritage Month, the importance of diverse voices, what real inclusion looks like, upcoming Sonoran Center projects, and more!

Please introduce yourself and talk about what you do and how you work with the Sonoran Center.

I’m Lynne Tomasa. I joined the Sonoran Center when it was first established in 2006. Over the years I have served in different roles and started as someone who was mainly involved with aging issues and life transitions, along with Dr. Yumi Shirai. Together we have worked on various projects. I myself have shifted slightly but it’s all connected to what all of us do: It’s about transitions, whether it’s as a young adult or older person. I’m particularly interested in the phase of life of aging. After talking with family caregivers, one of the biggest concerns about planning for the future is ensuring that their family member or loved one is living in a supportive and safe environment so that they can thrive without fear or isolation. That’s why I’ve been thinking about the concept of inclusion, but going deeper and looking at social isolation and what it means to belong.

Could you expand on that a little more and how it ties into some of the projects you’ve been working on?

Belonging in the sense of future planning includes ideas about supported decision making. That is, I can ask you for your opinion but if I’m not really making an effort to listen and make you feel like you belong in the conversation and that your voice is critical… Well, you can be invited to a party but if you sit in a corner and no one engages in a conversation with you, that’s being included but that doesn't create a sense of belonging. We all need to feel like we are actively participating in decisions and activities. It applies to all settings, including employment. You know, asking my opinion on what would make the job better, what would make it more meaningful, what changes do we need to incorporate based on a person’s experience in that environment, and so on. I think it really takes time to create a culture of belonging, and one of the challenges I’ve seen in everyday life is that we‘re often in a hurry. We forget that to have a positive or quality outcome we really need to take time up front to listen, and never assume that one person’s idea will work for everyone, and to constantly re-evaluate. It’s like an ongoing quality improvement project.

You also work as an assistant professor at the University. How does that tie into your work at the Center?

When people ask me what I do, it’s really hard to describe. I’ve been in the department of Family and Community Medicine for over 35 years, and I’ve been in the clinic — I worked in the clinic as a social worker — then I transitioned to teaching courses, being a guest lecturer not only in the college of medicine but the college of pharmacy as well. I like the interprofessional nature of my job, and I think it’s the perfect opportunity to work with not only older adults, but with people with different abilities, healthcare providers… I recognize the importance of communication. Sometimes the interactions with healthcare providers really depend on communicating in plain language. Over the years, I’ve really tried to practice that, regardless of what I’m working with. I do a lot of volunteer work as well, so I believe that in order to be a good faculty member, it’s those community experiences that make me a better teacher.

What do you like most about working at the Sonoran Center?

Well, I’ve met a lot of nice and interesting people; creative individuals that have a passion for individual rights. I think it’s really important that in order to create awareness, we need to include and have a sense of belonging among all community groups. For example, in my social group, outside of the work environment, I try to plant ideas when I’m sharing my interest. I talk about issues that we’re all addressing at work. Not from a perspective of “You should listen” or “you should care” but presenting an idea so that at some point they’d want to know more.

It’s not about forcing people to accept certain ideas, but planting that seed and letting it grow.

And relating it to their own life and their own circumstances. Then you’ll find out that, oh, they may have a loved one or distant family member or they may have come across a situation that they didn’t know how to address, so it’s by starting that conversation. I think that’s another thing that I like about my most recent project on sexual violence, is that it’s such a hard one to talk about. It’s like talking about dying, or those topics that really stir up emotions, but we need to. We need to talk about it.

This month, May, is Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Heritage Month. I’d like to ask you a little about what it’s like from your perspective, being someone with AAPI heritage in your field.

In terms of my cultural history and practices, for a long time I have been involved with a pre-health AAPI student group. Most recently I’ve worked with a college of public health alumni on a COVID-19 community service with AAPI communities. We engage UArizona students, so I think the beauty and the challenge of what I do at the university is based on all these diverse experiences. It can be challenging, managing time and being interested in so many things that you may appear scattered, but for me that makes me who I am. I try to remember that when I’m working in the community and working with students: remembering that we all have very rich cultural history. We learn differently. We learn at a different pace. We find we digest information differently. In terms of leadership styles, there are broad thinkers — big-picture visionaries — but on that team you need people who will pay attention to details. A good leader and a good team needs to have all of those skills. That ties in well to cultural values as well. I think of my own education in the beginning: I was not the person who raised their hand a lot, but I was always thinking about what was being said. I had to digest all the information before I felt comfortable sharing anything. So, I always try to remember: you pay attention to what’s happening in the room. If someone’s not saying anything, but seems to express themselves behaviorally, they are telling you something. I think that working in an academic institution like this, you’re just surrounded by people with good ideas, and that’s sort of the joy of being here.

Giving a little background, I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. A first generation college student. I moved off the islands, and landed in Arizona, the first state that I’ve been in as an adult. So I recognize that when individuals, whether they move, or whether they are a newcomer to an environment, the transition is not necessarily easy. I think that plays a big role in how I approach work or teaching: really starting first with knowing about the people.

Arizona was not a diverse state in the 80s. So, I was feeling that sense of isolation, and wondering if people were looking at me because I looked different or have a different rhythm to my speech. I think I’m always observant of my environment, and how I approach people and they approach me. I think it’s different for the younger generation, because their experiences are different, but I also see that intergenerational tension that can sometimes happen when you approach life differently based on being a first or second generation, or third or fourth. So I think those are important things to keep in mind, and I feel it’s always nice to share that with others. I don’t think people really ask. I think they’re afraid to ask me about my heritage or where I lived. I wish we could talk more about that.

It can be another necessary conversation to have.

It is. I always say, you don’t know until you ask, but you have to learn how to ask questions in a respectful way and give people the option of not answering, and that’s fine. We’re afraid to ask questions. In my work, I ask a lot of questions, so maybe that’s why I’m comfortable with people asking me, because I want to ask and learn myself.

Do you have any upcoming projects, or just things coming up in the future, that you want people to know about?

Well, I guess I’m thinking about what’s the next step in my project on sexual violence. There’s so much we can do, but there are groups in Arizona and nationally that are also looking at this issue. So, I'm just kind of wondering what the Center’s role can be in this. How can we have more conversations about this, how do we support survivors, I think that’s a really big issue.

It can easily tie into some of the other work that we do as well.

Absolutely. We do a lot of employment initiatives, that’s an excellent place to integrate awareness about that: sexual harassment in employment settings. Yumi (Shirai) does great things on creative expressions. I think that’s another question. How do you create trauma-informed environments?

Before we go, is there anything I haven’t mentioned that you’d like to talk about?

I think, in closing, whether it’s within our center or out in the community or the classroom, we should take some time to observe who is around us, observe what they bring, recognize that everyone, based I think on their heritage, culture, experiences, has a different — I always say rhythm, because that’s what I think of. You know? We just have a different pace, a different style. I find that fascinating. So, if we could just take a few minutes, it doesn’t take a long time, before we do something to just pay attention to those things.

To use a metaphor here: when different rhythms come together, it can create beautiful music.

Oh, I love it! Music, artwork - it’s like a whole mosaic. I love color. It’s a colorful world.