William T. Shearer, M.D., Ph.D., has been elected to the board of trustees at Washington University in St. Louis, according to Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Shearer is professor of pediatrics and immunology at Baylor College of Medicine, chief of the allergy and immunology service at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and a 1970 graduate of the Washington University School of Medicine.
Shearer joined the Baylor College of Medicine in 1978, after serving for four years on the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis. As professor of pediatrics and immunology and chief of the allergy and immunology service at Texas Children’s Hospital, he has received national acclaim as a clinician and researcher.
Shearer has been active professionally, serving as director and chair of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology from 1990-95, director of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology from 1999-2002, and chair of the academy’s Clinical and Laboratory Immunology Committee. He also has served as president of the Clinical Immunology Society for 2001-02 and served as editor of the 5th edition of the Primer on Allergic and Immunologic Diseases.
Shearer directs the David Center at Texas Children’s Hospital, which was established in 1984 and named after the Houston “Bubble Boy” who had severe combined immunodeficiency. The David Center treats children with all forms of congenital immunodeficiency from all over the world and offers them hope through translational research, including bone marrow stem cell therapy.
In 2005, he received the Arnold J. Rudolph Baylor Pediatric Award for Lifetime Excellence in Teaching. Shearer’s work focuses on immune pathogenesis of HIV infection, and he directs the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital.
In 2000, Washington University conferred its Alumni Achievement Award on Shearer for his international leadership on research and clinical care. Shearer serves on the School of Medicine’s National Council.
Before attending the Washington University School of Medicine, Shearer earned a doctorate from Wayne State University in 1966 and a bachelor of science from the University of Detroit in 1960.