FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2012
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124
aperkins@pa.muw.edu

Alumna Dr. Shirley Graves to address MUW graduates on May 5

COLUMBUS, Miss. – Mississippi University for Women alumna Dr. Shirley Graves, one of the most accomplished women in the United States in pediatric anesthesiology and critical care medicine, will address MUW graduates on Saturday, May 5 in Rent Auditorium, Whitfield Hall.

Approximately 460 degree candidates are expected to participate in the ceremony, which includes December 2011, May and August 2012 graduates.

Conferring of degrees for graduates of the College of Nursing and Speech Language Pathology and the School of Professional Studies will start at 10 a.m. Conferring of degrees for graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education and Human Sciences will be at 1:30 p.m.

Graves, a pioneer in pediatric anesthesiology and pediatric critical care in America and trailblazer for women in medical leadership, personifies excellence, selfless service and genuine passion to make a difference. Her professional dedication has positively impacted thousands of lives, epitomizing her life of servant leadership.

A 1957 Mississippi University for Women (MSCW) graduate, Dr. Graves worked as a medical technologist prior to pursuing a medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine. She had a combined internship in internal medicine and pediatrics in Nashville, Tenn., from 1966 through 1967 and then entered the residency program in pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas. She developed interest in pediatric critical care medicine, which was in its infancy at that time, and was primarily the domain of anesthesiologists. As a result, she transferred to the residency program in anesthesiology at Jackson Memorial Hospital at the University of Miami from 1968 to 1970. This was followed by a fellowship in Intensive Care at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 1971.

Following rigorous medical training, she joined the University of Florida College of Medicine faculty where she had a stellar career. The founding “mother” of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Shands Hospital, she served as chief of the Division of Pediatric Anesthesia and Pediatric Critical Care. A superb clinician, she cared for the sickest children in Shands Hospital for three decades while training/mentoring scores of physicians who have made their marks in medicine. She is Board Certified in anesthesiology, pediatrics, adult critical care medicine and pediatric critical care medicine.

A professor emeritus, she addressed the Society of Pediatric Anesthesia in October 2011 as one of this specialty’s founders and she continues to support her alma mater with her time, talent and treasures.