Tracy L. Yarbrough, MD, PhD

Assistant Dean of Diversity and Inclusion
Director of Center of Teaching and Learning
Associate Professor of Physiology

Office: (916) 686-7610
Fax: (916) 6567310
Tracy.Yarbrough@cnsu.edu

Education

  • MD, University of Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa)
  • PhD, University of Iowa, Physiology & Biophysics
  • MAEd, George Washington University, Education & Human Development (Washington, DC)

Post-graduate Training

  • Internship, Family Medicine, Broadlawns Medical Center (Des Moines, Iowa)
  • Residency, Nuclear Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore, Maryland)

About

Dr. Yarbrough is a practicing nuclear medicine physician and physiology educator. After receiving her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Southern California, she enrolled in the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Iowa, where her doctoral research focused on the adrenergic regulation of cardiac action potential generation. Following completion of her MD and PhD studies, she completed residency training in nuclear medicine, during which her research focused on the noninvasive assessment and risk stratification of myocardial perfusion assessments. She then began her postgraduate career as a nuclear medicine Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology & Radiological Sciences at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where she served as nuclear medicine residency program director. Immediately prior to joining CNUCOM, she was an Associate Professor on faculty of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology. While at GWUSHMS, she completed a Master of Arts degree in Education & Human Development, focusing her thesis work on the cross-disciplinary development of high-order multiple choice questions for the evaluation of physiology content knowledge and application. She has continued to practice nuclear medicine in various practice settings, including via teleradiology.

Research Interests

Deep learning and critical reasoning skill development across the medical education training/learning spectrum; high value assessment of content-specific and universal critical thinking skills; novel pedagogies to increase student engagement through the promotion of learner autonomy and meta-cognition; use of PET for noninvasive assessment of preclinical disease, particularly in oncology, neurology and cardiology

Other Interests

Spending time with family and her dogs hiking & camping, visiting art and art museums, watching and playing sports

Tracy L. Yarbrough, PhD, MD, MAEd