Mary Jo Shepherd

Having joined Columbia University on August 1, 2011, Dr. Mary Jo Shepherd is currently Executive Director of the Office of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Dr. Shepherd has responsibility for assuring the University’s compliance with all laws, regulations and guidelines pertaining to the care and use of laboratory animals.  Dr. Shepherd received her B.S. and D.V.M. from the Ohio State University and practiced small animal medicine for almost 20 years.  

She entered the laboratory animal field in 1988 and was a member of 5 IACUCs for a number of years while working at a privately owned medical device testing laboratory.  She has been employed at two pharmaceutical companies and another large academic institution.    

Mary Jo was active in Public Responsibility in Medicine & Research (PRIM&R) by serving on the IACUC conference Planning Committee and by serving as faculty for workshops and panels for many years.  She also Chaired the founding task force for what was known as the Certified Professional IACUC Administrator (CPIA) credential.  She has been active in the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) at the local and national levels and most recently served on AALAS’s Editorial Review Board.  She was actively involved in the planning of the New Jersey Association for Biomedical Research’s (NJABR) annual IACUC seminar for over ten years.  Dr. Shepherd was also on the Americans for Medical Progress Board of Directors for 5 years.