Alana Shepherd

About

Alana Shepherd, along with her late husband and son, Harold and James, and Dr. Apple, founded Shepherd Center after James sustained a paralyzing spinal cord injury in 1973. Frustrated by the lack of state-of-the-art rehabilitation care in the southeastern United States, the family galvanized support among the Atlanta community to open a specialty facility in 1975. Through the years, Shepherd Center has grown from a six-bed unit to a world-renowned, 152-bed rehabilitation hospital providing world-class clinical care, research, and family support for people experiencing the most complex conditions, including spinal cord and brain injuries, multi-trauma, traumatic amputations, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and pain. Now, Shepherd Center treats thousands of patients annually with unmatched expertise and unwavering compassion to help them begin again. An elite center recognized as both Spinal Cord Injury and Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems, Shepherd Center is ranked by U.S. News as one of the nation’s top hospitals for rehabilitation.

Alana also recognized early on that she had to help change the community to which patients would return so these individuals would be accepted and could once again assume their place in society. Alana championed the fight, despite opposition, to bring the International Paralympic Games to Atlanta in 1996. She changed Olympic/Paralympic history when her efforts led the International Olympic Committee to decree that all cities seeking to be the site of future Olympic Games must include plans and proposed financing for the Paralympics, as well as access to the same sites and facilities.

Alana, Harold, and James Shepherd were awarded honorary doctor of humane letters degrees in December 2011 by the University of Georgia, in conjunction with the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, in recognition of their contributions to healthcare and the state of Georgia.

Alana has received many awards, including the 2012 J.W. Fanning Award from Leadership Georgia and the Georgia Hospital Association’s 2009 Lifetime Heroic Achievement Award for her lifetime of service to enhancing operations and patient care at Shepherd Center. She also received Atlanta Gas Light’s and WSB Radio’s 2005 Shining Light Award. Alana was included on the Georgia Trend list of Notable Georgians for 2009 and inducted into the National Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame in 2008. She also has been named to Atlanta Business Chronicle’s list of “Who’s Who in Healthcare” multiple times. In 2015, the Georgia Historical Society inducted Alana as a Georgia Trustee, and that same year, she also received the Andrew Young International Leadership Award for Public Service and Advocacy. In 2017, the Delta Air Lines Advisory Board on Disability chose Shepherd Center co-founders Alana, Harold, and James Shepherd as the 2017 recipients of Delta’s Jay & Hagar Award for servant leadership. In 2019, Alana and James were both honored with lifetime achievement awards as part of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Most Admired CEO Awards. Alana has also been recognized by JAMES Magazine as a Most Influential Georgian, by Georgia Trend as one of Georgia’s 500, and by Atlanta Business Chronicle as the Lifetime Achievement winner in the Women of Influence Awards.

Alana’s numerous civic involvements have included serving as former vice president and current member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta, the Greater Grady Task Force, and secretary of the board of directors for the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games. In 1989, Alana was the first woman elected to be a member of the Buckhead Coalition, and in 2003, she became the first woman elected as chairman of the Coalition. She was also the first woman elected to the board of directors of Genuine Parts and the board of directors of Wachovia Bank of Georgia.

She is a graduate of North Avenue Presbyterian School, which became Westminster Schools, and of Stephens College, where she was a student officer and chosen to represent the Ten Ideals, that of Health.

Through the years, Alana has been Shepherd Center’s chief fundraiser and prime mover-volunteer. Alana is known for her upbeat honesty, business savvy, and relentless drive. She serves as chairman of the board of directors at Shepherd Center, and she is a constant presence at Shepherd Center, meeting and offering encouragement to new patients and their families, leading tours, and championing Shepherd Center’s mission and vision.