Michelle Shepherd, PA-C

Most people know her as Shep. Born in Alabama and raised in Florida, she planted deep roots at Florida State University, earning both her undergraduate degree in exercise physiology and her PA master's there, Go Noles.

Before PA school, Shep spent three years working in dermatology and served as a research assistant on a breast cancer survivorship study. The research pulled her closer to women's health, but it was her OB/GYN clinical rotation that sealed the decision. Watching the strength of the female body up close, and discovering the kind of provider-patient relationship that women's health makes possible, she knew she had found her specialty.

As a National Health Service Corps Scholar, Shep has always felt the pull toward service. She has volunteered with the Ronald McDonald House, served on the FSU College of Medicine Council on Diversity and Inclusion, and joined a medical mission trip to Panama. That instinct carries into her daily practice, where she brings the same energy to a routine well-woman visit as she does to a complicated case. Shep believes women's health is as much about empowerment as it is about medicine, and she is here to deliver both.