Former Vidalia Physician with Ties to Rocky Mount Leaves $2.5 Million to NCWC

North Carolina Wesleyan College has received $2.5 million from the Dr. Nancy Shaw Trust, the school announced October 28.

The bequest enabled the college to secure funds for its Pre-Veterinarian, Biomedical, Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science majors and allowed the college to establish its first endowed professorship to advise and oversee its Pre-Vet major. The trust’s primary focus was to benefit the health and care of felines, which was a passion of Dr. Shaw’s, an NCWC news release stated.

The Shaw trust has made continued from page

it possible for NCWC to develop additional coursework or concentrations in animal and cat care. The college will also be establishing a highlyselective endowed scholarship for a Pre-Vet major to pay the majority of their educational expenses at Wesleyan. Part of the funds will be placed into a restricted account to develop additional living and learning space for Wesleyan’s science majors.

A portion of the money will also be used to upgrade equipment in the school’s Biology, Biomedical, Environmental Science and Chemistry programs that support Pre-Vet majors. Dr. Meir Magal, Chair of the School of Mathematics and Sciences, and several NC Wesleyan biologists were instrumental in helping to develop the proposal for the executor of the Shaw trust.

“This is an extremely exciting time for the Biology Department, the School [of Mathematics and Sciences] and the College. This gift will allow us to further expand our offerings on campus and provide our science majors with new and exciting experiences and opportunities,” Dr. Magal said. Dr. Shaw, who died May 7 in a tragic mishap in Lyons, joined the Meadows Regional Medical Center in Vidalia as a member of the hospitalist team in 2012. She worked in the CCU, PCU, ICU and the medical-surgical unit. She was also an advocate for Vidalia’s animal rescue group, SOAPS.

Dr. Shaw, 62, was a native of Providence, Rhode Island, and attended Brown University where she graduated magna cum laude and entered the Brown University School of Medicine, graduating in 1983. She completed her Internship at Framingham Union Hospital, Framingham, Massachusett s, in 1985. Her residency in internal medicine was completed at the Hospital of St. Raphael, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1988. She became board certified in internal medicine in 1989. Dr. Shaw resided in North Carolina from 1992 -2012. During that time, she established the Hospitalist Programs for Cabarrus Memorial Hospital, Concord, and Boice-Willis Clinic in Rocky Mount. She and her mother resided in Rocky Mount during these years.