MCV Physicians Distinguished Clinician Award
Dr. Wes Shepherd is Professor of Interventional Pulmonology, Associate Professor of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine, Internal Medicine and has an appointment as Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery. He earned his M.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed his residency, including service as Chief Resident, and a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at VCU. He then completed a year-long fellowship in Interventional Pulmonology at the Lahey Clinic before coming back to VCU in 2004 as the first fellowship-trained interventional pulmonologist in Virginia. Dr. Shepherd is board-certified in Pulmonary Disease, Critical Care Medicine, and Interventional Pulmonology. He provides clinical services in the Medical Respiratory ICU, the Interventional Pulmonology (IP) procedure consult service, the general Pulmonary Clinic, and as part of the multidisciplinary Chest Tumor Clinic in Massey Cancer Center.
Over the past 14 years, Dr. Shepherd has developed our Interventional Pulmonology Program into the most comprehensive interventional pulmonology program in Virginia and one of the preeminent programs in the country. Interventional Pulmonology specializes in the management of patients with both benign and malignant complex airway disease, advanced diagnostic techniques of the chest, and pleural disease. These services are vital for patients with a broad range of complex acute and chronic illnesses, and Dr. Shepherd has met this need with the recruitment of expert faculty, development of a research program, and creation of an IP Fellowship, now in its ninth year.
The success of this program is a testament to Dr. Shepherd’s dedication to effective interdisciplinary care, strong patient and physician communication, and his strong and personal commitment to his patients. A particular strength is ongoing communication with referring physicians so that they can more easily access services, remain up-to-date on the health status of their patients, and feel that they are working with caregivers at VCUHS as a team.
Dr. Shepherd serves on many professional societies, notably serving on the Board of Directors for the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology and on the national steering committee for the Interventional and Chest Diagnostic Procedure Network of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP). He shares his expertise and experience through numerous lectures for students, residents, fellows, and national and international meetings and courses. A leader in developing IP as a subspecialty, Dr. Shepherd was an author of the first national board exam in IP. His research interests include lung cancer, bronchoscopy education, tracheal stenosis, bronchoscopic lung volume reduction, endobronchial ultrasound, and other advanced therapeutic bronchoscopy procedures, and he has several active IRB projects and numerous published articles and abstracts. He has served on multiple division, departmental and school committees including as Chair of the Invasive Procedure Committee.
Dr. Shepherd has been recognized by Richmond Magazine as a “Top Doc” in Pulmonology for the last nine years, including as the overall top vote recipient in 2018, and recently (2017) received Distinguished CHEST Educator recognition by the ACCP, an honor awarded to only 5% of CHEST faculty for outstanding contributions to educational endeavors. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and received the 2011 William Branch Porter Outstanding Clinician Award from the Department of Internal Medicine.
“He strives to accommodate his patients’ needs and to perform all of these duties with compassion and the highest integrity,” observes his colleague, Alpha “Berry” Fowler, M.D., William Taliaferro Professor of Medicine. For his ongoing commitment to excellence in all aspects of clinical care, we are honored to recognize Dr. Wes Shepherd as our 2018 MCVP Distinguished Clinician of the Year.