Mary Patricia Shepherd
Former consultant thoracic surgeon Harefield Hospital, Middlesex (b 1933; q Royal Free Hospital 1957; MS, FRCS), died from thyroid cancer on 20 October 2003.
Mary Shepherd embarked on a career in cardiothoracic surgery and first worked at Harefield as a registrar in 1963, being promoted to senior registrar shortly thereafter. She spent a year in research at Toronto Sick Children’s Hospital with Dr W T Mustard, and her work on the diaphragmatic muscle graft formed the basis for a Hunterian professorship and her MS thesis. She was appointed as a consultant at Harefield in 1968 and remained there until she retired in 1985 to pursue other interests. During that time she helped to train a generation of thoracic surgeons and engaged actively in clinical research.
A larger than life character, her operating garb of cotton headscarf, green dress, and white boots made a striking impression on all those privileged to work with her. Her Mark II Jaguar would always be parked at the door, and, if you were very lucky, on social occasions, you might hear her play the piano accordion. Yet she had a serious side. Her paper on plombage published in Thorax in 1985 is still a standard text to be read by any surgeon with the now unusual task of managing the complications of this method of treating tuberculosis. In her spare time she also served on the board of visitors at Wormwood Scrubs prison.
Age robbed her of none of her character and she bore her final illness with great fortitude and dignity. [William Fountain]