Shannon Barker
About
Shannon Barker, Ph.D., focuses on ensuring that the BME undergraduate program's educational objectives and learning outcomes, as well as its curriculum, reflect an innovative and highly effective learning environment that meets the needs of all of its students, as well as employers, graduate & professional schools, and accreditation bodies. She is an Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Program Director in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham under the advisement of Dr. David Curiel and completed two post-doctoral fellowships with Dr. Jeffrey Chamberlain at the University of Washington and Dr. Patrick Aebischer at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.
Before coming to UVA, Shannon was the Director of Graduate Training at the Georgia Institute of Technology & Emory University Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, where she was part of a leadership team for a graduate program spanning multiple degree options, multiple institutions, and multiple countries. She also taught core courses in the undergraduate program. Shannon's initial role at UVA was in the Engineering's Dean's Office as Director of Graduate Education, where she worked with Deans and faculty to provide leadership, and direct and develop strategies and policies, that impact graduate students and post-docs in the School. Shannon has a passion for teaching students, and has won several awards in this area, including Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 2014 and the Gandy-Diaz Teaching Mentor award in 2016.