Carolyn D. Roberson, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology (M & I). She is one of the teaching faculty in the department and is Co-Course Director for the second year (M2) fall and spring medical school courses in the School of Medicine (SOM). Dr. Roberson has been an undergraduate educator for 20 years, with the switch to Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) in 2015. Her primary responsibilities include teaching bacterial and fungal content in the first and second year undergraduate medical curriculum in the SOM, facilitating problem-based learning sessions in the M2 curriculum, and teaching microbial content in both dental and graduate school courses. The foundational principles of Dr. Roberson’s teaching philosophy are two-fold: 1) A personal commitment toward excellence in education that includes continuous self-improvement and lifelong learning; and 2) A commitment to student success by developing students who can think critically and independently and creating a learning environment that builds confidence and competence.

In addition to her teaching commitment to the SOM, Dr. Roberson also serves on a number of SOM and UME committees that evaluate and assess the medical educational curriculum for efficacy in promoting student success and that convey and discuss faculty concerns and recommendations for addressing those concerns. She also serves on M & I departmental committees regarding faculty searches and graduate student admissions in addition to serving as the departmental contact for Medical Student Research. In addition to teaching and service, Dr. Roberson is the recipient of several student-driven teaching awards and recognitions including: Golden Apple Teaching awards (class of 2021, class of 2023, class of 2024), American Medical Women’s Association Gender Equity awards (U of L chapter: 2020 and 2021), and one of the recipients of the Student Champion Award (Spring 2023).

Dr. Roberson received a B.S. in  Biology from Stillman College in 1994 and returned to her hometown, to work for a few years to determine her career path. While there, she decided to go to graduate school, graduating in 1999 with an M.S. in Biological Sciences from Mississippi State University (MSU). She worked as an adjunct professor at MSU for a year and transitioned in Fall 2000 to teaching General Biology, Anatomy and Physiology, and Microbiology lectures and labs at several campus locations of Roane State Community College (Crossville, Harriman, Oak Ridge TN). Dr. Roberson returned to graduate school at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 2009 and completed an M.S. (2011) and Ph.D. (2014) in Microbiology and Immunology. After completing a Post-Doctoral Scholar appointment at ULSOM in Undergraduate Medical Education in Summer 2016, she was hired as a faculty member by the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in Fall 2016.