Zachary Dunbar, PhD, Assistant Professor of Basic Sciences at LECOM Elmira, NY
Zach Dunbar grew up on what his parents lovingly called a “farm-ette” — a little 3-acre plot tucked on the border of Big Flats and Horseheads, about a half-mile from Catlin, NY. His childhood had a simple rhythm: baseball for the Big Flats Little League, and long afternoons tramping around the hills between Sawdey Road and Westlake Hill with his friends.
Academia ran in the family. His parents, Deb and Tom, were both professors at Corning Community College — his mom in business and office communications, his dad in physics and math. It probably shouldn’t be surprising, then, that Zach ended up with a PhD.
About six years ago, he earned his doctorate in Oncology from Roswell Park and the University at Buffalo, where he studied electronic cigarettes and health behavior. Today, he’s a faculty member at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) Elmira campus — and when he’s not teaching, he’s usually out in the community or lifting weights at Equity Barbell with his partner, Hannah, nearby.
But the path back to the Southern Tier wasn’t a straight line.
After graduating, Zach spent a year in Madison, WI. Then he quit his job and came home — not for a career opportunity or a new adventure, but for something simpler. “My main reason for coming home was that I needed the support of my family,” he said. “My folks still live around here.”
What he didn’t expect was everything else.
“What I found when I came back was an amazing and vibrant community I never knew was here.” He credits an inseparable group of friends for helping him discover things about himself he didn’t know he needed. “I came home for my immediate family, and now I’ll never be the same. I’m grateful for them every day.”
These days, a typical weekday starts at 5:45 AM. Zach grabs a quick meal, teaches from 8 AM into the afternoon — basic sciences, which he describes as a catchall for Biochemistry, Epidemiology, and everything in between — then heads out into the community for outreach work with LECOM or one of the several boards and projects he’s involved with, including the Neighborhood Transformation Center, the Southern Tier STD/STI Prevention Taskforce, and the Southern Tier Tobacco Awareness Coalition. Dinner is often at Salsa’s or Boomer’s. Evenings wind down with reading, a scary movie, college football, and quality time with Hannah and her cats, Wybie and Winnie.
“I usually have at least one community event each weekend,” he said. “I’m not great at sitting still.”
That restlessness is exactly how Equity Barbell came to be.
About four years ago, Zach and his closest friend and collaborator, Zack Breuckman (ZB), found themselves frustrated with how their queer friends were being treated — by the world, by gym-bro culture online and in person. They didn’t have a master plan. They had a shared love of lifting heavy things and a holiday sale on gym equipment. “Well, not all of it ended up in ZB’s garage,” Zach admitted with a laugh. “Some of the plates and bars ended up in my mom’s basement for a while. Sorry, ma.”
From there, they approached the team at the Family Fitness Center and offered to volunteer in the weight room. For about two years, ZB and Zach showed up every Saturday — helping run the City of Lights basketball tournament in the winters, building community, and quietly workshopping what Equity Barbell could become. That’s also where Emily Marino first found them and offered to help. “She really helped ZB and me with the logistics and layout of launching everything,” Zach said.
2023 was the turning point. A soft-launch livestream event. Deadlifts on Market Street in Corning. A formal partnership with fiscal sponsor Elmira Community Cycle. In 2024, a support grant from the Community Foundation helped them expand the gym’s footprint.
Today, Equity Barbell is an association of about 30 lifters and local advocates — and its programming has grown well beyond the weight room. Earlier this year, they hosted a TransID Clinic. They’ve run a community self-defense series in partnership with Crystal City Martial Arts. The mission has always been bigger than barbells.
“EB is a testament to the idea that ‘if you build it, they will come,'” Zach said. “And here in Elmira, it is easy to build. Rent doesn’t cost $5,000 a month. There are passionate people who actually want to do things, help, and see the community grow.”
That belief in Elmira — in its grit, its accessibility, its potential — is something Zach talks about with the kind of energy that makes you want to move there.
“We’re the type of place where people can actually explore things — work projects, art, mutual aid,” he said. “All my friends are devoted to this community, but in a way I’ve never seen anywhere else. The people I know here are dedicated to creating their community. Saying, ‘hey, we can do art here,’ or ‘hey, we can do this business here.'”
His friend ZB once described living in Elmira as being in “tutorial mode” — the first level of a video game, where you get your bearings and figure out how to exist. Zach loves that framing. “I need that accessibility,” he said. “And it’s real.”
For students considering the area, or anyone new to town, Zach has a shortlist of genuine local gems: Dunn Field for baseball (tickets often run about ten bucks, sometimes free), The Elmira Aviators, the Dolls of Destruction roller derby at Southside, and Elmira Community Cycle’s moonlight rides — “a gorgeous and FREE way to see the town from a cool perspective.” Eldridge Park’s historic carousel costs two dollars. The disc golf course there never has a wait. And in the summer, there’s always a crowd on the Rye patio.
“The best recommendation is to just walk around and see the sights,” he said, adding, “If you’re bored, you’re not looking hard enough.”
Zach Dunbar teaches at LECOM Elmira and co-founded Equity Barbell, a nonprofit gym and community advocacy organization based in Elmira, NY.