Vice President and Dean, Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine
By Samantha Cart
In 2011, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education placed the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine on probation. In March 2012, Joseph Shapiro, M.D., a nephrologist with more than 30 years of clinical, teaching and research expertise, was appointed the school’s new dean. Shapiro immediately refocused the school’s priorities on the accreditation process and worked alongside his leadership team to address every issue that led to probation. By October 2013, the probation had been lifted, and the progress that was made during his first year gave the medical school the momentum it needed to flourish into the powerhouse it is today.
A native of Newark, NJ, Shapiro holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania and a medical degree from the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. After serving as the chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Toledo for 14 years, he felt it was time for a change, which led him to the Mountain State. As dean, he serves as the chief academic officer of the medical school and oversees its teaching, research and clinical missions. He is also the chairman of the board of directors of Marshall Health and a member of the board of directors for the school’s health care delivery system, Mountain Health.
Educational quality has been a priority under Shapiro’s tenure, and as such, he has overseen the addition of a variety of new academic, residency and pipeline programs and fellowships. This growth within the school of medicine was instrumental in Marshall University earning its R2 status from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education in 2019.
He is particularly passionate about reducing medical school loan debt for West Virginia students. The school of medicine now awards more than $3 million in scholarships annually, and the school’s endowment fund is at an all-time high. Students who are accepted into the school’s new B.S. to M.D. program also receive a tuition waiver for the medical school portion of their education.
“Our mission is to train a physician workforce for West Virginia,” says Shapiro. “I believe if we can minimize debt, our graduates can do what they want to do. I want to remove any obstacles to our graduates choosing to practice in underserved areas of West Virginia. My dream is to make the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine free to West Virginia residents.”
In response to the state’s opioid crisis, Shapiro formed the Division of Addiction Sciences at Marshall to propel the school into a leading role in addressing addiction issues in the region. Under this umbrella, the school has launched more than a dozen initiatives related to addiction care, treatment and research, including Project Hope for Women & Children, an 18-unit residential treatment facility for women with substance use disorder and their children, and the Provider Response Organization for Addiction Care & Treatment, or PROACT, a hub for behavioral, social and medical care related to addiction treatment.
“Thanks to the amazing efforts of so many people, we’ve made real progress in reversing the curse of opiate addiction,” he says. “Although we still have a very frightening problem, we are seeing statistical evidence that these efforts are working, including decreases in overdoses, overdose deaths and neonatal abstinence syndrome.”
Shapiro also finds time to maintain his own academic and research interests. He currently leads a medical research team, co-authors original research articles and continues to see patients on a limited basis, and he holds 16 patents on medical inventions.
“I absolutely love being involved in science,” he says. “Every so often, our work lets us understand how things really work. I truly feel that these insights, which don’t happen all that often, are like seeing a little piece of God’s plan.”
In April 2019, Shapiro became one of only eight West Virginia physicians ever to receive mastership in the American College of Physicians (ACP), an elite honor received only by 1 percent of all ACP members in the world. He continues using his talents and his commitment to the Mountain State to work toward a brighter future by educating a skilled medical workforce, and he looks forward to many more years of success in West Virginia.
“Coming to West Virginia has been fabulous for me and my wife,” he says. “We have been embraced by the community and our colleagues at the university, and my life and career have never been as exciting as they are right now. I have every hope that tomorrow will be even better.”
Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine
Since its inception in 1977, the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University has been educating West Virginia’s medical work force in patient care, biomedical science studies, research and public service.
Most recently, the school has added a new master’s degree in clinical and translational science and a seven-year accelerated B.S. to M.D. program, which was created to help keep West Virginia’s brightest students in the state for medical school. The leadership is also preparing to launch a new vertically integrated curriculum in July 2020 to reduce redundancies, provide more clinical time and increase elective opportunities for students in research, rural medicine and specialized care.
A significant part of the school’s success stems from its commitment to expanding its reach through programs and partnerships with other institutions and growing the research branch of its dedication to education, research and clinical care. Research funding donated and/or granted to the school of medicine now sits at approximately $43.7 million—the largest resource in the school’s history. Under the leadership of Dean Joseph Shapiro, M.D., the school has more than tripled its federal and nonfederal grant awards in the past three years and, in 2015, established its own online medical journal, Marshall Journal of Medicine.
The school’s faculty practice plan, Marshall Health, continues to grow its number of locations, which now includes 40 clinics in 14 counties, and patient visits, which have increased 65 percent since 2013. Combined, the school of medicine and Marshall Health employ more than 1,800 people, making them important economic drivers for the region.
