Professional Bio
Martha E. Shepherd, DO, MPH, FAAFP, FACLM is a Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Medicine’s Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health. She is triple board certified in family medicine, integrative medicine and lifestyle medicine and holds a Master of Public Health from Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.
Dr. Shepherd completed medical school at Kansas City University, followed by a family medicine internship at Naval Hospital Jacksonville, a residency at the University of Tennessee, and a fellowship in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona. She joined the Vanderbilt faculty following her service as a physician in the United States Navy. She is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
Dr. Shepherd is the Chief Medical Officer for the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Teacher Health Plan and the Medical Director for Vanderbilt Health at MNPS, a network of five award-winning, employer-based clinics with an interdisciplinary team dedicated to delivering whole-person care to MNPS employees. She is active in the corporate health and wellness sector, serving on the Board of Directors for the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO), the Cigna Mid-South Physician Advisory Council, and the Medical Director Council for the National Association of Worksite Health Centers (NAWHC).
In addition, Dr. Shepherd co-chairs the Tennessee Medical Association Education Committee and serves on the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians, where she advocates for medical education at both state and national levels. She is a certified teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) through the Mindfulness Center at Brown University School of Public Health, a certified yoga instructor, and serves on the Medical Fitness Association (MFA) Physician Advisory Council.
Dr. Shepherd’s research focuses on employer health, health plan design, and best practices in population health. Her work emphasizes the importance of effective health communication and including patients in their care plan using shared decision-making tools, evidence-based clinical care pathways, and patient advisory group feedback. She is particularly interested in leveraging technology to enhance care quality and improve the experiences of both patients and providers.
She has been an invited speaker at academic institutions, corporate health events and scientific meetings locally, nationally, and internationally. In 2024, she was named to the American Journal of Health Promotion’s “Best of 2024 List” of Health Promotion Researchers.
Relevant Links
Publications
Education
DO - Kansas City University, 2001
Internship - Family Medicine - Naval Hospital Jacksonville, 2002
Residency - Family Medicine - University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 2008
Fellowship - University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, 2020
MPH - Dartmouth College Geisel School of Medicine, 2021
Contact
Email
Kimryn.Rathmell@Vumc.Org
Address
777 Preston Research Building
2220 Pierce Ave
Nashville, TN 37232-6307