Barkley, whose specialties are family, adolescent and sports medicine, comes to UCF from Delaware State University, where she was associate vice president for health and wellness and the founding dean of the College of Health and Public Policy.
In addition to her work at the College of Medicine, Barkley will also work to develop adolescent and sports medicine programs at Nemours.
“Diversity and inclusion are cornerstone values at our medical school,” said Dr. Deborah German, UCF vice president for medical affairs and dean of the College of Medicine. “As we train the next generation of doctors, we want to encourage open communication and collaboration, promote cross-cultural understanding and engage the community to address health-care disparities. We want to appreciate the differences that each one of us brings to our collective team.”
Barkley said she sees her role as a “facilitator” who will help bring health equity to patient care, education, research and the community. “I hope to make diversity and inclusion part of what we do every day,” she said. “I want to make sure that our M.D. program creates physicians who really work well with all people.”
After receiving her B.S. degree in Biology from Georgetown University, Barkley received her M.D. at Temple University College of Medicine. She has done research and presentations on topics ranging from eating disorders among competitive ice skaters to health disparities among African American adolescents.
“Throughout my career, I have learned how to take care of people in all kinds of settings and take care of people facing all kinds of issues,” she added. “I’m excited that the UCF College of Medicine has done a great job picking students who are passionate and care a great deal about being good physicians and a faculty that is dedicated to building something greater than has ever been built before. It’s like living opportunity here.”