Alumni Martha & David Shepard Donate $50,000 to UT College of Pharmacy Building Fund
Marie Chisholm-Burns, PharmD, MPH, FCCP, FASHP, dean of the College of Pharmacy at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), has received a $50,000 donation from Pharmacy alumni Martha and David Shepard of Dickson, Tenn. Their generous gift will be used to defray part of the expenses for the construction of UTHSC’s $70 million Pharmacy building, which opened in August 2011. In recognition of their gift, an enclosed bridge in the six-story, ultra-modern College of Pharmacy building has been named in their honor.
“David and Martha are wonderful examples of the difference UT alumni make in their community, in our state and as an integral part of our university family,” Dr. Chisholm-Burns said. “We greatly appreciate their support of and commitment to their alma mater. We will continue to work diligently to be worthy stewards of all the resources our pharmacy alumni so generously donate.”
The UTHSC College of Pharmacy is what originally brought Martha and David Shepard together. They met on the Memphis campus while studying for their pharmacy degrees. Martha earned a DPh in 1973, while David earned a BS in 1974 and a PharmD in 1975. Married in 1974, the couple has enjoyed a successful partnership that has lasted nearly four decades.
“Martha and I want to give back to the College of Pharmacy because pharmacy has been good to us,” David said. “The UT College of Pharmacy gave us an excellent education and has encouraged all pharmacists through the years to expand their practice as new clinical services developed,” he added.
Recalling his job right out of pharmacy college, David recognizes he broke new ground as the first clinical pharmacist in the Veterans Administration system nationwide (VA Hospital, Nashville). Upon her graduation, Martha chose to work in community pharmacy and later at the in-patient pharmacy at a hospital in Dickson, David’s hometown. A few years later, they bought a pharmacy in Dickson. Pooling their experience and talents, the Shepards added three more stores to the original Dickson Pharmacy, which offered compounding and clinical services.
Today, Martha divides her time between local volunteer work and medical mission trips. David continues to practice pharmacy and has worked as a Tennessee state representative since 2000, advocating for pharmacy in legislative circles. Their niece, Leslie, a 2010 PharmD graduate from the UT College of Pharmacy, has also joined the family business, working in one of their stores.
To learn more about making a gift to the building fund and recognition opportunities in the new UT College of Pharmacy building, please contact Nell Blair, director of Development at (901) 448-8202 or by e-mail at NellBlair@uthsc.edu.