Medical Advisory Board

Marshall J. Bouldin, IV, M.D.
Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board

Marshall Bouldin, M.D., the Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Diabetes Care Group, serves as Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board. He was formerly Chief Medical Officer of the Delta Health Alliance, a federally funded not-for-profit corporation responsible for improving health and wellness in the Mississippi Delta region. He was also Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he was Director of the University of Mississippi Diabetes and Metabolism Center and founded and directed the Delta Diabetes Project, sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Delta Health Alliance, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. From 1991 through 1999, Dr. Bouldin practiced internal medicine in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Mississippi and his M.D. degree from Johns Hopkins. He was a resident in internal medicine at the University of Virginia. He was also awarded a bachelor’s degree from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Annette K. Low, M.D.

A general internist by training, Annette Low, M.D. is an expert in obesity, diabetes among women, and women’s health. Dr. Low is currently employed by HMA as the Director of an American Academy of Bariatric Surgery-accredited Center of Excellence in Bariatric Surgery and Comprehensive Weight Loss, and is developing an internal medicine practice with an emphasis on bariatric medicine. She was formerly Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where she was the Director of the National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health at UMMC, and the Director of the UMMC Weight Management Program. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in Seattle and her M.D. degree from Johns Hopkins. Dr. Low completed an internship in internal medicine at Case Western and an internal medicine residency at the University of Virginia. She is married to Dr. Bouldin.

Franklin W. Maddux, M.D.

Frank Maddux, M.D. is Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer of Fresenius Medical Care North America, the largest provider of services to patients with end stage renal disease. A nephrologist by training, Dr. Maddux has more than 25 years of health care experience. He is a founder of Specialty Care Services Group, the leading U.S. provider of perfusion services to hospitals, and he founded Health IT Services Group, a leading-edge Electronic Health Record software company that was acquired by Fresenius Medical Care in 2009. Dr. Maddux also serves as Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Until 2005, he practiced nephrology at the Danville Urologic Clinic and served as its president from 1995 to 2005.

Dr. Maddux also founded and remains a principal shareholder of Technology Integration Provider in Danville, Virginia. He has served on several boards and committees involved in developing technology initiatives in both the medical and regional economic development arenas. He continues to serve as a director on the boards of Renal Physicians Association, Mid-Atlantic Renal Coalition, American National Bank & Trust, and Averett University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Vanderbilt and an M.D. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also completed his internship, residency, chief residency and nephrology fellowship.

Raffi Minasian, M.D.

Raffi Minasian, M.D. is a board certified nephrologist who has been a pioneer in the development of medical home delivery programs for patients in Southern California with end stage renal disease. He is the founder of Home Dialysis Centers, located in Glendale and Le Habra, California. He has been a practicing nephrologist for 25 years and received all of his academic and medical training at the University of Southern California. He is an Adjunct Professor in Nephrology at the University of Southern California School of Medicine.

Jinna M. Shepherd, M.D.

Jinna Shepherd, M.D. serves as the Medical Director of Diabetes Care Group’s first center. She was a faculty member at the University of Mississippi Medical Center from 1997 through 2009, and was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine in 2003. Dr. Shepherd is board certified in internal medicine and has published several articles in professional, peer-reviewed journals. Among her professional accomplishments, Dr. Shepherd was the 2006 recipient of the James L. Achord Physician Award in recognition of her excellence and dedication as a physician and role model for medical students. She is a graduate of Mississippi State University and the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where she was also a resident.

Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P., Ph.D.

Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P., Ph.D., is dean of the School of Nursing at Aquinas College, Nashville, Tennessee. An internationally acclaimed nurse educator, Brother Ignatius served as director of administration for the Dominican Friars in the Eastern Province in the United States, as well as the coordinator of the health care ethics programs in the Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York before joining Aquinas College.

During his professional career, he has served as professor and chair of the School of Nursing and dean of the College of Health and Natural Sciences of Spalding University in Louisville, Ky. and as executive vice president and staff ethicist of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Boston. While at Spalding, Brother Ignatius established the Center for the Study of Human Dignity, Ethics and Caring in Nursing.

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Brother Ignatius entered the Dominican Friars in 1959. After completing two master’s degrees – one in nursing from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and the other in education from Spalding University – Brother Ignatius was awarded the doctoral degree in nursing from The Catholic University of America in 1987. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in primary care and clinical bioethics at Georgetown University in 1999, during which time he completed a seminal research study that examined the phenomenon of personhood among homeless persons living with HIV-AIDS.

In addition to his academic work, Brother Ignatius has also served on the Board of Trustees at Spalding University, Providence College in Rhode Island, and the College of the Immaculate Conception; on the Provincial Council of his religious order; and as secretary and governor of the National League for Nursing.

Brother Ignatius is an active member of numerous academic and professional nursing associations. He has been awarded various honors, including the prestigious Caritas Medal from Spalding University and a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Catholic University of America. He was inducted as an adjunct fellow of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in 2003 and as a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine in 2006 and the American Academy of Nursing in 2009. Brother Ignatius is also a frequent contributor to academic nursing and ethics publications and has presented at numerous academic, ethics, and health care conferences around the world.