In Memoriam: Kimberly Shea.
In Memoriam: Kimberly Shea
In September, friends and family celebrated the life of Kimberly Shea, an infectious disease epidemiologist whose enduring connection to the School of Public Health spanned nearly 20 years across a spectrum of roles as a student, staff and faculty. Shea died on July 18 at age 47, her journey as an educator, researcher, and parent cut short by cancer.
Charles Horsburgh was epidemiology department chair while Shea was a student and hired her almost immediately after she completed her doctorate. “Infectious disease epidemiologists aren’t that easy to find, and she was terrific. She published a number of wonderful articles and It turned out that she was an absolutely dynamite teacher,” Horsburgh said.
Shea created EP730: Epidemiology of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases and taught it each year she was on the SPH faculty, Horsburgh said, and continued to guest lecture as an adjunct for years after leaving. “Every year it was oversubscribed and got fantastic reviews,” Horsburgh said. Shea continued to teach while undergoing treatment and was able to finish her final classes in May.
Martha Werler, a professor of epidemiology and past department chair, remembered Shea as a “delightful colleague” whose fun-loving nature was always on display. Shea balanced the gravity of research with an engaging collegial nature, as when she helped plan key departmental events such as the Doctoral Program’s 30th Anniversary Celebration in 2014.
“I loved watching her face light up when she talked about her young kids,” Werler said. “Sometimes when she was working late I’d hear her, from her office down the hall, talking on Zoom with them and saying goodnight.”
Shea was a pioneer of student-led teaching in the department, Werler said. “Her students loved her, and her class on vaccine preventable diseases. And as a fellow Midwesterner, I especially appreciated her no-nonsense style.”
Shea graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Science in genetics, then spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya. Her nearly 20-year connection to the School began in 2004 when she enrolled as a master’s student to pursue a concentration in epidemiology. After earning her MPH in 2006, Shea stayed at SPH to explore research in infectious disease prevention and was awarded her PhD in 2011.
Horsburgh said among Shea’s talents was a unique ability to be able to talk to students in a way that helped expand their knowledge without making them feel lacking in intelligence.
“She really had the gift of how to say things in a way that really opened people’s minds to new ideas, and I think that was the whole course,” Horsburgh said. After Shea left SPH, Horsburgh shouldered teaching duties of EP730 using the structure and materials Shea left. “Her course that I took over was absolutely the best one I ever taught, much better than any mine,” Horsburgh said with a gentle laugh. “It really was just very thoughtful, and she had pulled together great articles. We had the students give them, and then we would ask questions of them and have a discussion. It was really a seminar course, but students just loved it.”
Like many doctoral students, Shea worked as a staff research assistant on various projects. Shelley Barnes, senior financial administrator in the Department of Epidemiology, worked closely with Shea over the years and said they “shared both tears and triumphs.”
“She was so vibrant and smart,” Barnes said. “She had a wealth of knowledge of not only epidemiology but of the world, too. She was able to share that knowledge with students, colleagues, and friends. We still have some of the beautiful photographs she took in Africa hanging in the Talbot 405 East conference room. I cherish the time I spent with her.”
In 2018, Shea left SPH to work at Pfizer to head a department studying real-world evidence for vaccines in the company’s development pipeline, research that Pfizer uses to help to demonstrate a drug’s value beyond its safety and efficacy. From 2021 until her death, she was the senior director and HEOR lead (health economics and outcomes research) for maternal vaccines that could be given to help protect infants in utero.
Shea is survived by her husband, Csani Varga, their two children, and innumerable friends, family, and colleagues.