SGSHS announces new chair, award to honor physiology alumnus

Published on Monday, November 25, 2024

By: Danny Barrett Jr., dlbarrett@umc.edu

Photos By: Jay Ferchaud/ UMMC Communications

Melissa Shepherd, widow of the late Dr. A.P. “Pete” Shepherd, donated more than $2.25 million to the UMMC School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences for an endowed chair for physiology and a new investigator award. The chair will be supported at $2 million, while the award is supported at $250,000.

Each was announced Wednesday with Melissa Shepherd and daughter, Dr. Genevieve Shepherd Ali, in attendance. Both an appointment to the chair and a recipient for the prize are expected to be named in 2025.

“We are tremendously grateful to the Shepherds for their generosity in establishing two major gifts to honor Dr. Albert “Pete” Shepherd, Jr. and Melissa Shepherd,” said Dr. John Hall, Arthur C. Guyton Professor and chair of physiology and biophysics. “The Distinguished Chair in Physiology honors the legacy of Dr. Pete Shepherd as an innovator, entrepreneur and pioneer in physiology research and medical instrumentation. It will also be a major recruitment tool to attract physiology researchers of the highest caliber to UMMC.”

Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs, said the donation will help UMMC advance health science research.

“From Dr. Arthur Guyton to Dr. John Hall, UMMC has built an incredible legacy in physiology research. With this generous gift form the family of Dr. Pete Shepherd, we have the opportunity to continue charting a bright future in health science research that will add to the body of knowledge nationally and globally,” she said.

The New Investigator Prize honors Melissa and Pete Shepherd for their lifelong support of students and young researchers in their education and scientific endeavors and will encourage new investigators to continue their pursuit of excellence in research, Hall said.  

“These two major gifts will greatly advance the research and education programs of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics where Dr. Shepherd received his doctorate degree and began his illustrious career.”

Shepherd, who died in 2023, received his PhD in physiology from UMMC in 1971 after earning his undergraduate degree at Millsaps College. In 1974, he joined the faculty in the physiology department at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where he remained for the rest of his career. In 2015, SGSHS named him its Distinguished Alumnus for the year.

He founded A-Vox Systems Inc., a company that developed oximeters, which became standard equipment to measure a patient’s blood oxygen saturation. Later, he received five patents and built software systems and mobile phone apps for teaching physiology.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Shepherd family for establishing an endowed chair in physiology and a new investigator award to honor Dr. Pete Shepherd and his lifelong achievements,” said Melissa Robinson, senior director of principal gifts in the UMMC Office of Development. “Melissa and Gen are leading examples for how philanthropy empowers UMMC to expand its programs, enhance its impact, and foster long-term growth and success.”

Melissa Shepherd, a retired English teacher and longtime partner in her husband’s company, said her husband conceived the chair and award before his death as a way to foster the work of research for future generations of health care professionals.

“His main goal was to give this knowledge to other people,” she said. “He wanted to help physiology students and was passionate about teaching. He was always keeping up with technology. When phone apps were becoming a big deal, he stayed with it.” 

Qualified applicants for the investigator award will be those displaying some form of financial difficulty, since that “was his background,” she said. “He grew up in Greenwood and there wasn’t much money.”

Establishing the endowed chair and young investigator award will allow SGSHS to “recruit exceptional research faculty, recognize motivated young investigators, and honor a distinguished alumnus of the physiology graduate program,” said Dr. Sydney Murphy, dean of the school and associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.

Passion is another intangible quality that prize recipients must possess, something Shepherd showed throughout his career.

“He absolutely loved research and teaching students,” said Ali, a mother of three sons and 20-year anesthesiologist in Austin, Texas, where she and her mother live. “He once told me when you grow up, get a job you really love. Because when that alarm clock goes off each morning, you want to be excited to get out of bed and go to work.”