Dr. Lisa K. Lyford is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, earning a B.S. in Biochemistry with minors in Chemistry and Music Performance. After advanced study and research in Microbiology and Immunology, she earned her doctorate in Pharmacology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999, and continued at UNC as a postdoctoral associate. Her doctoral research focused on the electrophysiological properties of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain. She was also a postdoctoral teaching associate at North Carolina State University in the Biotechnology Education Facility, where she taught combined graduate / undergraduate courses in Mutagenesis and in Biotechnology. Dr. Lyford joined the biology faculty at the University of the Cumberlands in August, 2005. She was recognized as an Honor Professor by the Student Government Association in 2015 and 2017. She is the faculty advisor for the UC Pre-health club.
Dr. Lyford is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Microbiology, the National Association for Biology Teachers, the Association for Biology Laboratory Education, and the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions.