Patricia Gregory, David Shearrer receive promotions

Patricia Gregory has been named assistant vice chancellor and executive director of medical corporate and foundation relations at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Gregory has served as the University’s executive director of corporate and foundation relations at the University since 1992.

In her new role, Gregory will continue to direct corporate and foundation fundraising at the medical school and will take on additional responsibilities in Medical Alumni and Development Programs. As part of the Medical Alumni and Development Leadership Team, she will report to Pamela Buell, associate vice chancellor and director of Medical Alumni and Development.

Before she joined Washington University, Gregory served for four years as assistant chairman and senior lecturer in Northwestern University’s Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology and as associate director of Northwestern’s Center for Biotechnology. She also held a research appointment at University College London for three years.

Gregory earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, in 1975 and 1978. She also earned a Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from the University of Vermont in 1986 and completed postdoctoral fellowship training at the University of Chicago.

In addition to scientific publications, Gregory is the author of several book chapters for faculty and fundraisers, including “Foundation Support” in the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Handbook for Institutional Advancement and “Obtaining Funding for Clinical Research” in Translational and Experimental Medicine.

She also has held leadership roles in CASE’s Annual Conference of Corporate and Foundation Relations Officers and has developed and taught a workshop course on private foundations for the National Council of University Research Administrators.

David Shearrer has been named executive director of development for clinical programs in Medical Alumni and Development. He formerly was senior director of medical development for clinical programs, where he raised funds for the departments of neurology, neurological surgery and psychiatry. Prior to that position, he served as senior associate director of medical development and executive faculty liaison. Among other accomplishments, he spearheaded the William A. Peck Scholars Program, which provides scholarships for medical students.

In his new position, David will assume additional responsibilities to build a program to enhance the relationship with donors and potential donors who are familiar with the medical care provided by the School of Medicine. He also will supervise the medical development clinical programs team. As part of the department’s Leadership Team, he will report to Buell.

Prior to joining Washington University in 2002, Shearrer led successful development programs for the Salvation Army, Missouri Baptist College and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1991 and a master’s degree in business administration from Webster University in 2005.

Shearrer has completed gift planning internships at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and the College of William and Mary Planned Giving Institute. He currently is a member of the MU Libraries’ Campaign Steering Committee.


Washington University School of Medicine’s full-time and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.