John Shephard, M.D., a visionary cardiologist and scientist who worked with the Soviet Unionon space travel during the peak of the Cold War died October 4. 2011 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He was 92.
Dr. John Shephard
Dr. Shepherd made major contributions to understanding the regulation of the circulatory system, producing more than 300 scientific publications and four books. He was President of the American Heart Association in 1975-76. He was also a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in theUnited KingdomandIreland.
Over the years, he was the recipient of many awards including honorary degrees from the Universities of Bologna,GhentandQueens. He was also actively involved with NASA and the National Academy of Sciences where he was a member and subsequently Chair of the Committee on Space Medicine 1965-1974. During this time, he had many interactions with colleagues behind the Iron Curtain in theUSSRworking on space physiology.
“Dr. Shepherd was a giant in cardiovascular physiology who made fundamental observations about blood pressure regulation in humans and many other elements of cardiovascular control. He was also a visionary leader who engaged in and promoted translational research 30 or 40 years before it was a buzz word at NIH (National Institutes of Health) and in the scientific community,” said Michael Joyner, M.D., the associate dean for research at Mayo Clinic inRochester,Minn.
Incredibly, while he was doing cutting edge scientific work, he was also leading the ongoing transformation of Mayo from a superb group practice to a group practice embedded in a world class academic medical center.”
Mayo Clinic was his professional home and he made many contributions to this institution. He was Director of Research from 1969 -1976. In this position, and as a member of the Board of Trustees, he was instrumental in enabling Mayo to become a separate degree granting institution in 1972 from the Universityof Minnesota.
He became director for education of the Mayo Foundation and dean of the new MayoMedicalSchoolfrom 1977–1983. This included responsibility for the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine and Mayo School of Health-Related Sciences. Later from 1983-88 he chaired the Mayo Board of Development and was actively involved in the development of the first Mayo satellite in Jacksonville, Fla. He retired from Mayo in 1989. In 2003, he published Inside the Mayo Clinic, a memoir.
“As I look back on my fifty years at Mayo Clinic and Foundation, I am astonished at its metamorphosis beyond what William Worrall Mayo, and particularly his sons, Charles Horace Mayo and William James Mayo, first envisioned,” Shepherd wrote in his book. “I am also gratified by my opportunities to play a part in that growth as a research, educator and partner in what is, arguably, the world’s greatest medical group practice.”
