Barbara Barzansky received her PhD in Developmental and Cell Biology from the University of California-Irvine and did postdoctoral work in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Wisconsin. She served as a faculty member in the Department of Anatomy at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Dr. Barzansky then received a master’s degree in Health Professions Education from the University of Illinois-Chicago and remained at that institution as a faculty member in the Center for Educational Development (now Department of Medical Education). She then moved to the American Medical Association (AMA), where she now serves as the Co-Secretary of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), which is the agency that accredits medical education programs leading to the MD degree in the United States.