Limerick professor, based in London, launches new book on Heart Disease

Cardiac disease remains one of the most common causes of death. In the last decade cardiac pathology has undergone a revolution, particularly in the fields of genetics and imaging. One of the leading experts in the field, is Professor Mary Sheppard of the Department of Cardiovascular Pathology at St George's University of London.

Professor Sheppard, formerly a student at St Catherine’s Convent in Newcastle West, will next month launch a new book called Practical Cardiac Pathology 3e. The book is a combined atlas and text that is designed to assist pathologists in identifying the range of cardiovascular conditions that are found in both diagnostic and autopsy work.

While born in Cork, Professor Sheppard credits the Limerick Convent with giving her an "excellent all round education"

"I did medicine at University College Cork and went to London after obtaining a Wellcome Fellowship to pursue  postgraduate training and an academic career in 1981. I became a hospital consultant in 1986 specialising in lung and heart disease. Since then I have worked both national and internationally, obtaining  a Fogharty Fellowship to work at the National Institute of Health in USA in 1996"

The author, who has been Professor and head of Department of Cardiovascular Pathology at St Georges Medical School London since 2010, was made medical alumnus of the year from her old Alma Mater UCC in 2016.

If all of that was not impressive enough, she was made an honorary Professor in University of Copenhagen and Monash University, Melbourne Australia.  

Having published several books on heart disease, this latest instalment will be available from March 1, with a book launch at Royal Society of Medicine London on that night.

"My book deals with heart disease which is the biggest killer in the developed world. My research is particularly in  sudden cardiac death and its prevention. There has been some tragic cases in West Limerick in the past few years. With a UK Charity called Cardiac Risk in the Young, we have developed a national programme which is now involving family screening and genetic testing funded by the NHS.  I am on the Board which is leading this national initiative which families have been campaigning for many years. It would be wonderful to have a similar programme in Ireland." admitted Professor Sheppard. 

According to the Journal of Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology - "The book includes numerous color photographs of the highest quality illustrating both macroscopic and histological findings which support the understanding of the reader and can be useful in daily routine forensic practice. It straddles the fields of both clinical cardiac pathology and forensic cardiac pathology and is of value for both groups of experts"

And what of her Limerick roots? "I met  a Limerick man, from Feoghanagh, James Long in London and we married in Newcastle West in 1984. We regularly came back to Limerick as both families lived in the area. We have four children all of whom come regularly with us to Limerick.  Our eldest son married in Limerick in 2018 and we now have our first grandson born in 2020.  

The family also purchased the former Courtney Arms Hotel and rebuilt and developed it as Longcourt House Hotel which opened in 2017, a well established business in the town.

"My classmates from the town and surrounding county  from the Convent  meet regularly and we are organising the first  general reunion of St Catherine Convent at The Hotel on June 4 2022 . All of my teachers are alive and well and we are looking forward to  meeting them after many years." Professsor Sheppard concluded.