The Paul and Lisa Welch Distinguished Awards Program was established in 2013 to help prepare Shepherd students and faculty for prestigious scholarships and awards like the Fulbright, Rhodes, and MacArthur. The Welches provided funding for Shepherd’s proposed doctor of nursing practice degree program and for the Paul and Lisa Welch Endowment, which provides funding support to programs that engage the community in the intellectual life of the university.
Paul Welch is a clinical nephrologist practicing in the Eastern Panhandle. He retired from the U.S. Army as a colonel in 2004 having served his entire active duty military career at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. During his tenure at Walter Reed, Welch was chief of nephrology, program director for training nephrologists, and consultant to the Army Surgeon General for nephrology. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in biology from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a doctor of medicine and a master of public health from Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Welch is clinical associate professor of medicine at West Virginia University, internal medicine clerkship director at West Virginia University-Eastern Division, chair of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and vice president of the Medical Executive Committee at Berkeley Medical Center, and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.
Lisa Welch is a licensed pharmacist who serves as an independent consultant to the pharmaceutical industry. She earned a bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from the University of Texas at Austin and a master of administrative science degree from Johns Hopkins University. She completed a residence in hospital pharmacy at the National Institutes of Health. She is a board member of the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation, and the Scarborough Society, a friends of the Shepherd library group. She is a member of the capital campaign committee of the Shepherdstown Public Library, co-founder and coordinator of the Shepherdstown Film Society, a volunteer with the Jefferson County Community Ministries, and a member of the Two Rivers Giving Circle.