Dr. Zumwalt joined the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology in 2007. She has a strong interest in curriculum and faculty development in medical education, with a particular focus on bridging the foundational and clinical sciences. A parallel interest is the development of graduate students as future biomedical educators.

Dr. Zumwalt directs the Body Structures (medical gross anatomy) modules for the first year medical curriculum. She also teaches advanced clinical anatomy topics in the medical school curriculum, including anatomy refresher sessions for the Radiology and Obstetrics & Gynecology clerkships. Within the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology she is Course Director of the Teaching in the Biomedical Sciences course and Anatomy Journal Club.

Training
Dr. Zumwalt earned her doctorate in 2005 from the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research there demonstrated that endurance exercise does not affect the surface morphology of skeletal muscle attachments. These findings challenge the rarely questioned assumption that analysis of these features can be used to provide insight into the activity patterns of extinct human and animal populations. Dr. Zumwalt subsequently joined the Animal Locomotion Laboratory in the Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy at Duke University. There she investigated the effects of hypermuscularity on locomotor patterns and bone morphology in rodents. She also collaborated on various research and educational projects with clinicians in radiation oncology, obstetrics and gynecology and neurology.

Service
Dr. Zumwalt is the chairman of the Preclerkship Curriculum Subcommittee of the Medical Education Committee and is a past chairman of the John McCahan Medical Campus Education Day committee. She is a School of Medicine representative to the Boston University Faculty Council and department representative to the BUSM Committee on Faculty Affairs. She also serves as the Masters Student Advisor for the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology. On a national level, she is actively involved in the American Association of Anatomists, having served on the Board of Directors and the AAA’s Advisory Committee of Young Anatomists. She also represents BUSM nationally on the AAMC Committee on Faculty and Academic Societies.