Physician Investigator (Cl) Radiology, Mass General Research Institute

Professor of Radiology Harvard Medical School

Radiologist Thoracic Imaging and Intervention, Massachusetts General Hospital

MD Boston University 1977

angiography; biopsy; bronchial diseases; carcinoma bronchogenic; carcinoma non-small-cell lung; chest tubes; lung biopsy; lung neoplasms; lymph nodes; needle biopsies; peripheral venous thrombosis; pleura; pneumonectomy; pneumothorax; pulmonary embolism; punctures; thoracic imaging; tomography x-ray computed Dr. Shepard's research interests are in the realm of thoracic imaging and intervention. Her research has focused on studying percutaneous needle biopsy of the lung, resulting in implementation of standard procedures for the appropriate selection of patients, improved diagnostic technique, and significantly improved post procedural care of biopsy patients.  The experience and skills derived from the experience with needle biopsies have led to the development of the Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) Program for lung tumors at Massachusetts General Hospital.  Her current research focuses on studying RFA of the lung in the treatment of lung tumors. She is a co-investigator in the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) pilot study of RFA in high risk patients with Stage IA non-small cell lung cancer.

The MGH recently participated in the Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis (PIOPED II), a National Institute of Health (NIH) sponsored multi-center trial in the investigation of pulmonary embolism by CT angiography (CTA) and peripheral venous thrombosis by CT venography (CTV).  Dr. Shepard oversaw the implementation of this trial within the Division of Thoracic Radiology at MGH.  The results of the PIOPED II investigation have recently been published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Shepard's clinical investigations have focused on imaging of thoracic surgical conditions including lung transplantation, diseases of the airways, and lung tumors.  She has described imaging findings on new technologies including MR imaging and FDG PET imaging characteristics of chest tumors. She has investigated the CT evaluation of incidental pulmonary nodules detected by CT leading to the development of guidelines for the follow up of pulmonary nodules published by the Fleischner Society.  Dr. Shepard is currently investigating dose reduction techniques in CT imaging of the chest.