FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 29, 2019
Contact: Sheanna M. Spence, Director of External Affairs, School of Medicine, 304-691-1639

Marshall University School of Medicine dean awarded Mastership in American College of Physicians

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Joseph I. Shapiro, M.D., dean of the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and a practicing nephrologist, has been awarded Mastership in the American College of Physicians (ACP), the national organization of internists.

Election to Mastership recognizes outstanding and extraordinary career accomplishments. Masters must have made a notable contribution to medicine. This includes, but is not limited to, teaching, outstanding work in clinical medicine (research or practice), contributions to preventive medicine, improvements in the delivery of health care and/or contributions to the medical literature.

A nephrologist with nearly 40 years of clinical, teaching and research experience, Shapiro was appointed dean of the Marshall School of Medicine in 2012. Before joining Marshall, he served as associate dean for business development and chair of the department of medicine at the University of Toledo College of Medicine in Toledo, Ohio, and on faculty at the University of Colorado. A native of Newark, New Jersey, Shapiro earned his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 1980. During his tenure at Marshall, Shapiro has heightened the research and scholarly activity at the school while also seeing significant growth in the school’s faculty practice plan, Marshall Health.

According to ACP bylaws, Masters are elected “on account of personal character, positions of honor, contributions toward furthering the purposes of the ACP, eminence in practice or in medical research, or other attainments in science or in the art of medicine.” ACP activities are also taken into consideration for all candidates. This includes service to the ACP in an official capacity, participation in chapter activities, and involvement in the development of ACP products and educational programs. Volunteer and community service are also taken into consideration.

Shapiro was nominated by Maurice A. Mufson, M.D., professor emeritus, cardiologist and researcher at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. Of the ACP’s 154,000 members across the globe, only 1% have been awarded Mastership. Shapiro becomes one of only eight West Virginia physicians, including Mufson, to receive the honor.

“Dr. Shapiro is a nationally known academician and exceptional researcher who has the academic success that characterizes physicians accepted for Mastership,” Mufson said. “This is a very special recognition.”

ACP honored new Masters at the annual Convocation ceremony during its Internal Medicine Meeting 2019, ACP's annual scientific conference, held April 11‐13 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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About the American College of Physicians

The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with members in more than 145 countries worldwide. ACP membership includes 154,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness.

Date Posted: Monday, April 29, 2019