Research
Professor Mary Sheppard is a cardiac pathologist with an international reputation. She has established a nationally recognised referral centre for cardiac pathology in the UK. She has set up a national cardiac pathology database, with funding from UK charity Cardiac Risk in the young (CRY).
Her main area of interests are the conditions causing sudden cardiac death in young people such as sudden arrhythmic death, cardiomyopathies including dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, arrythmogenic cardiomyopathy, metabolic cardiomyopathy and acquired cardiomyopathies. She also has an interest in cardiac development anatomy and congenital heart disease.
Professor Sheppard’s main focus is on the pathological diagnosis. She collaborates with cardiologists who screen families for these cardiac conditions. She also works with cardiac and clinical genetists to examine phenotype/genotype expression in families. Her work also involves working alongside scientists, immunologists and anatomists.
She is interested in the underlying pathophysiology factors that cause cardiomyopathies, and uses quantification and immunocytochemistry to look at these factors with use of a powerful rapid scanner.
She also has an interest in:
- Cardiomyopathies
- Cardiac inflammation, myocyte abnormalities, and fibrosis in the heart
- Abnormal structure of the heart during development
- Aortic disease including aortic aneurysms and inflammation of the aorta
- Cardiac valve disease
- Cardiac anatomy
- Congenital heart disease
- Coronary artery disease
Biography
Professor Sheppard is a specialist cardiac pathologist and has established a national cardiac referral centre with funding from the charity CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) to investigate sudden cardiac deaths in the UK.
She qualified in medicine from University College Cork and did her postgraduate specialisation in pathology in London. She is a national trainer for cardiac pathology for forensic and general pathology trainees in the UK.
With finding from CRY and St George’s, University of London, Dr Sheppard has developed a national database on sudden cardiac death which is the largest in the world, becoming a rich source of research.
Professor Sheppard has published 300 peer reviewed papers, 30 book chapters and nine international guidelines. She is at present working on the third edition of her book on cardiovascular pathology. She used guidelines on the investigation of sudden cardiac death issued by the Royal College of Pathologists in 2015. Professor Sheppard is also on an international committee under developed guidelines for training in cardiovascular pathology.
She collaborates closely with cardiologists including Sanjay Sharma, Elijah Behr, Maite Tome, Jan Till and Michael Papadakis. Alongside the expert examination of the hearts, she is collecting genetic material from each case so that a genotype/phenotype correlation can be established in most cases, in collaboration with clinical geneticists and cardiologists.
Professor Sheppard does extensive research and teaching and has built up an international reputation in the field. She was awarded honorary fellowship of Royal college of Physicians in Ireland in 2018. She was also awarded the Stokes Medal for her work by the Irish Cardiovascular society in 2009 and gave the Phillip Poole Wilson memorial lecture in London in 2014.
She is visiting professor to the Royal College of Pathologists of Australia and New Zealand, as well as to the Turkish Pathological Society and to the International Academy of Pathology of South Africa. She is visiting professor to the Forensic Academy of Australia and New Zealand as well as to the Brocher Foundation for Human Genetics on cardiac disease in Geneva.
Professor Sheppard is President of the European Association of Cardiovascular Pathology. She is on cardiac working groups in the European Society of Pathology and European Society of Cardiology.
Publications
van Kesteren F, Wiegerinck EMA, Rizzo S, et al. Autopsy after transcatheter aortic valve implantation. Virchows Archiv 2017; 470(3): 331-9.
Sorkin T, Sheppard MN. Sudden unexplained death in alcohol misuse (SUDAM) patients have different characteristics to those who died from sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS). Forensic Sci Med Pathol 2017.
Miskolczi S, Sheppard MN, Bogats G, Gobolos L. Double-locus lymphoplasmacytic aortitis. Asian Cardiovasc Thorac Ann 2017; 1: 1-3.
Krexi D, Sheppard MN. Cardiovascular causes of maternal sudden death. Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome is leading cause in UK. Eur J Obstet Gyn R B 2017; 212: 155-9.
Kirk P, Sheppard M, Carpenter JP, et al. Post-mortem study of the association between cardiac iron and fibrosis in transfusion dependent anaemia. Journal of cardiovascular magnetic resonance : official journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance 2017; 19(1): 36.
Jensen B, Spicer DE, Sheppard MN, Anderson RH. Development of the atrial septum in relation to postnatal anatomy and interatrial communications. Heart 2017; 103(6): 456-62.
Gilbert J, Sheppard MN, Byard RW. Sudden Infant and Early Childhood Death and Sinus of Valsalva Pseudoaneurysms. J Forensic Sci 2017; 62(2): 531-5.
Finocchiaro G, Papadakis M, Behr ER, Sharma S, Sheppard M. Sudden Cardiac Death in Pre-Excitation and Wolff-Parkinson-White: Demographic and Clinical Features. J Am Coll Cardiol 2017; 69(12): 1644-5.
Basso C, Aguilera B, Banner J, et al. Guidelines for autopsy investigation of sudden cardiac death: 2017 update from the Association for European Cardiovascular Pathology. Virchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology 2017.
Solberg EE, Borjesson M, Sharma S, et al. Sudden cardiac arrest in sports - need for uniform registration: A Position Paper from the Sport Cardiology Section of the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation. European journal of preventive cardiology 2016; 23(6): 657-67.
Perez-Pomares JM, de la Pompa JL, Franco D, et al. Congenital coronary artery anomalies: a bridge from embryology to anatomy and pathophysiology-a position statement of the development, anatomy, and pathology ESC Working Group. Cardiovascular Research 2016; 109(2): 204-16.
Page M, Grasso AE, Carpenter JP, Sheppard MN, Karwatowski SP, Mohiaddin RH. Primary Cardiac Lymphoma: Diagnosis and the Impact of Chemotherapy on Cardiac Structure and Function. Canadian Journal of Cardiology 2016; 32(7).
Nademanee K, Raju H, De Noronha S, et al. Reply: Search for Evidence-Based Medicine for Brugada Syndrome: The Complex Network of the Brugada Syndrome. J Am Coll Cardiol 2016; 67(13): 1658-9.
Lyon AR, Bossone E, Schneider B, et al. Current state of knowledge on Takotsubo syndrome: a Position Statement from the Taskforce on Takotsubo Syndrome of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology. Eur J Heart Fail 2016; 18(1): 8-27.
Krexi L, Georgiou R, Krexi D, Sheppard MN. Sudden cardiac death with stress and restraint: The association with sudden adult death syndrome, cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease. Medicine, science, and the law 2016; 56(2): 85-90.
Halushka MK, Angelini A, Bartoloni G, et al. Consensus statement on surgical pathology of the aorta from the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology and the Association For European Cardiovascular Pathology: II. Noninflammatory degenerative diseases - nomenclature and diagnostic criteria. Cardiovascular pathology : the official journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology 2016; 25(3): 247-57.
Green AC, Sheppard MN. Sudden cardiac death associated with premature atheroma in the young: an autopsy study emphasising single-vessel lesions. Cardiol Young 2016; 26(4): 743-8.
Finocchiaro G, Papadakis M, Robertus JL, et al. Reply: How Often Does Athlete Sudden Cardiac Death Occur Outside the Context of Exertion? J Am Coll Cardiol 2016; 68(19): 2126.
Finocchiaro G, Papadakis M, Robertus JL, et al. Etiology of Sudden Death in Sports: Insights From a United Kingdom Regional Registry. J Am Coll Cardiol 2016; 67(18): 2108-15.
Research group
Dr Joseph Westaby
Dr Olena Dotsenko
Khari Edwards
Susanna Cooper
Belmira Fernandes
Collaborations
Professor Sheppard collaborates with the following researchers:
- Dr Elijah Behr, Cardiologist on Channelopathies
- Professor Sanjay Sharma, Dr Gherardo Finnocchio and Dr Michael Papadakis on sudden death in sport
- Dr Nidhi Sofat Pheumatologist on inflammation
- Dr David Adlam, University of Leicester
- Dr Angeliki Asamiki
- Renal Physicians Dr Mathew Brown and Dr James Burton, University of Leicester
- Dr Madgi Saba, Cardiologist.
- Professor Bob Anderson, Anatomist
Funding
Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) has funded research by Professor Sheppard.
Teaching
Professor Sheppard runs an annual Cardiac Pathology Course at St George’s.
