8 minute read
Ophthalmology Alumni Spotlight
Alumni Spotlight
John Sheppard, MD
Resident 1983-1986
City:
Norfolk, VA
Family:
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Mom & Dad were also natives and married in Mt. Lebanon. I spent two college summers working at Eye & Ear Hospital, one with Ophthalmology Chair Ken Richardson as a graphic artist (no Power Point in the 70’s) and one for ENT Chair Eugene Myers as a writer. My wife of 42 amazing years, Clelia, is Italian. When we moved to Pittsburgh, she had never been to the States before. We discovered immediately that Pittsburgh boasts a higher percentage of Italian heritage individuals than any city in the country so she adapted immediately. We enjoyed three great years in Pittsburgh living a block from my old high school and a mile from my parents. Clelia now runs a theater and a gallery in Cape Charles and is very active in the arts. We have four children, and they’re living all over the states.
Hobbies:
I love music. I play keyboards and rock and roll in 3 different bands. One of the bands we named iDox. We do fundraisers for corneal and organ donation awareness, food charities, vision foundations and eye banks. We don’t get paid very well, and we still have to move our own equipment most of the time, just like in college.
Career:
My career was circuitous due to a Navy scholarship. I did a pediatric internship because medical school convinced me to embrace primary care. That was by far the most interesting medical rotation at Brown. The Navy allowed me to deliver primary care for four years in Italy with the 6th Fleet, where I realized I was not a pediatrician, I was an ophthalmologist. We flew from Italy back to the States for a blitzkrieg interview tour with many prestigious programs at the time. I chose Pittsburgh because of the well-rounded approach to all forms of ophthalmologic disease, the all star faculty, and the community outreach. I was very much attracted to the Campbell Lab too: as a Navy physician, I developed a strong interest in infectious diseases.
After residency, I enjoyed a 30 month fellowship in Cornea, Uveitis, and Third World Disease at San Francisco’s Proctor Foundation. I truly enjoyed that. Thereafter we chose Virginia because it was the closest warm beach town to Pittsburgh with an ophthalmology residency program: Pittsburgh was just too cold and there was no ocean. Mom & dad were temporarily crushed, but visited us frequently, then eventually moved in with us.
When I started in Norfolk, Virginia, we were socially totally alone. We both worked very hard. I built our group from two doctors to 40 doctors, 400 employees, 10 locations, and a six room OR. I’m very excited about our Virginia practice. We built a world-class facility and team. We have dozens of clinical trials going now. with a full-time research staff. Our new ASC is second to none. We’ve had a series of mergers with private equity, the first of which was with Cincinnati Eye Institute to form CVP. We became the biggest ophthalmology practice in the country. Two and a half years later, we were blessed by another private equity transaction with Eye Care Partners: the biggest optometric group in the country. So now we’re the biggest in both worlds, the largest integrated eye care delivery network.
We truly make an effort to grow vertically at ECP. Ironically only about 500 ophthalmologists graduate every year in the United States, yet the Medicare population has doubled twice since I graduated from residency training. We can bring quality care to everyone in the country, including rural and disadvantaged areas, with a genuine spirit of collaboration between our professions.
With this efficient clinical and management model, I’m still able to concentrate on corneal disease and uveitis.I still see a lot of kids with those problems, a continuation of my interest in pediatrics. It’s truly been very rewarding. We have a translational research laboratory at Eastern Virginia Medical School here in Norfolk. It’s called the Thomas Lee Center for Ocular Pharmacology. I was also the
John Sheppard, MD
Continued on next page.
Alumni Spotlight (continued)
Ophthalmology residency program director for 19 years, an all-volunteer position.
Now I’m busy with several positions in the large ECP conglomerate. I’m the regional medical director for the MidAtlantic and Chair of the Community Outreach and Charitable Giving committee for the Medical Executive Board, not to mention President of Virginia Eye Consultants and Medical Director of the Lions Eye Bank. I’m consulted with nearly 100 companies and remain active with pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and device strategic development.
Most important thing to you about having attended Pitt for Ophthalmology?
The well-rounded experience and attitude of the faculty. They were either just very shamelessly dedicated to bettering our profession through hands on personal training, or there was some really high-powered research going on with the cornea department and the Campbell Lab. Just a lot of pluses on the checklist. I was privileged. They let me do three transplants as a resident, unprecedented at the time, because they knew I was doing a cornea fellowship. On three different Saturdays, three attendings came in and did a transplant with me on their own time. I really appreciated that: thank you Jay Linn, Peter Berkowitz and Gerry Gordon.
Any funny/interesting stories from your years working or in school?
I remember operating as a resident, and one day we had an earthquake tremor all the way from the Memphis fault line. Everything shook. We initially blamed the radiology technicians for moving heavy equipment. Another day I was operating with Tom Friberg when the Challenger space disaster occurred. We paused in silent respect, but he was afraid to operate with me ever again.
Why have you decided to get involved with the Eye & Ear Foundation?
It’s a gesture of gratitude to history and my home town. Our neighbor, Joe Novak who was very active at Pitt, inspired me to work in ophthalmology for my coveted first research job. My first clinical job as a surgical tech and the official barber for all male pre-operative patients was at Mercy Hospital, the location of the new Vision Institute.
What are you most excited about in the future of the department?
I believe the integration of clinical excellence, cutting edge inter-disciplinary research and translational trials are the best pathway to transformational discoveries. Industry collaboration is also essential, and well understood in the Department of Ophthalmology. Familiarity and proximity to Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh is catalytic, and the inspirational leadership of so many of our chairmen is both an admirable legacy and a roadmap. I was fortunate to work in some capacity with Ken Richardson, Stuart Brown, Jack Kennerdell, Dick Thoft, Joel Schuman and now José-Alain Sahel. Amazing role models. I still enjoy collaborating, at least spiritually, with Andy Eller, Tom Friberg, Deepinder Dhaliwal, Eric Romanowski and Rege Kowalski. So many have laid this foundation for the future, being built upon a granite bluff above the Monongahela. We all look to leadership dedicated to bettering treatments, diagnostics, and surgical interventions. It’s inspirational to witness the vanguard.
The Eye & Ear Foundations is very excited to announce that Dr. Sheppard has established the John and Clelia Sheppard Chair in Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh. This endowed chair will provide much needed funding to allow the Department to recruit world-class faculty and expand upon the innovative research taking place.
We Want To Hear From You! Webinar Information
With the release of our new alumni newsletter, Through the Looking Glass, we want to keep in touch with our alumni. Please share exciting personal or professional news with fellow alumni in future editions of our newsletter. Have you recently changed jobs? Got married? Published some exciting research? Welcomed a new member into your family? We want to know about it!
To update your contact information or to share personal and professional news, please visit http://ophthalmology.pitt. edu/alumni/alumni-verificationform T he Eye & Ear Foundation, in conjunction with the Departments of Otolaryngology and Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh, has launched a new biweekly webinar series entitled “Sights and Soundbites.” The webinars are presented by department faculty members and highlight their current research initiatives and treatment strategies. These webinars have proven to be an accessible and interactive way to stay connected with patients, donors, faculty, and alumni. If you would like to register to receive webinar invites, please visit www.eyeandear.org/ webinars. To view past webinars, please click on the links below:
Ophthalmology
• Understanding Common Eye Infections • Corneal Transplantation: From Donor to Recipient • Patient and Community Engagement to Improve Eyecare Delivery in Glaucoma and Other Chronic Eye Diseases • Using Advanced Imaging to Treat and Prevent Vision Loss • Contact Lens Safety: Benefits of New Technology
Otolaryngology
• Hearing Aids: Everything You Need to Know • Taking a Tour of the Skull Base Surgery Center • The How and Why of Treating Swallowing Disorders • Salivary Endoscopy for Salivary Stones • What’s the Buzz? The Neuroscience and Treatment of Tinnitus
eyeandear.org
203 Lothrop Street Suite 251 EEI Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 412.864.1300 O 412.864.1305 F
Please consider a donation to the Eye & Ear Foundation to fund our research and academic efforts.
University of Pittsburgh Department of Ophtahlmology Eye & Ear Institute, Suite 820 203 Lothrop Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 Wallyl@upmc.edu 412.864.3283
MAKE A GIFT
If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter, please submit requests to our mailing address, or email optout@eyeandear.org
The official registration and financial information of the Eye & Ear Foundation may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.
