Dr. Donald Sheppard, Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine, is one of 96 newly elected Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology. An honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology, Fellows are elected annually through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology. There are over 2,400 Fellows representing all subspecialties of the microbial sciences and involved in basic and applied research, teaching, public health, industry, and government service.
“I am deeply honoured to have the opportunity to represent the McGill Infection and Immunity community at the American Academy of Microbiology,” says Dr. Sheppard of this most recent honour. “It is an incredibly exciting time to be a microbiologist. Although we are confronting new global threats of rising antimicrobial resistance and emerging infectious diseases, we are on the cusp of discoveries that could revolutionize how we can understand and even deploy our own immune systems and microbiomes to mitigate these threats. The newly launched McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity will work to leverage these discoveries, and develop innovative solutions for infectious and immune diseases, with enormous benefits for individuals and communities around the world.”
A world-renowned expert in the diagnosis and treatment of invasive fungal infections, most notably those caused by the mold Aspergillus, Dr. Sheppard is Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at McGill and lead of the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity. He is currently the section head of the medical mycology laboratory and practices clinical infectious diseases at the McGill University Health Centre. His primary clinical area of interest is human fungal disease, particularly invasive aspergillosis in the immunocompromised host. Dr. Sheppard is a clinician-scientist whose research interests focus on elucidating the mechanisms by which the fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus causes human disease in order to develop new therapeutics for these infections.
Dr. Sheppard has been actively engaged in teaching and mentoring of young clinicians and scientists as the Program Director for the McGill Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology training programs, and has developed a combined clinical, laboratory and didactic training program for medical mycology. He currently serves as a mentor for undergraduate and graduate research trainees, clinical fellows as well as several junior faculty members.
He has published over 100 research papers and book chapters and has delivered over 150 invited lectures worldwide. Dr. Sheppard has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Clinician-Scientist award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and a Research Chair from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Santé and has been elected to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Last fall he was selected as the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s 2017 Mentor of the Year for Region 4 (Quebec).
Congratulations Dr. Sheppard!
January 18, 2018