2021

By the time Shore realized that she wanted to attend medical school, she had missed the application deadlines. She called all three of Boston institutions, and only HMS said it would forego the deadline. She says the rest is history.

While dean for faculty affairs, Shore was involved in numerous programs and initiatives supporting the faculty and the School. When she retired at the end of 2004, she says that her energies went in several directions, though perhaps most notable is her dedication to advancing women in medicine.

In retirement, Shore served as chair of the Archives for Women in Medicine for nine years until 2016. This initiative—begun in 2000 by the Joint Committee of the Status of Women grew thanks to the volunteer efforts of Shore and many HMS faculty, staff, and friends—has brought in more than 50 collections of women leaders in medicine and the medical sciences, which are now available to students and faculty worldwide. Shore and others have participated in educational outreach programs and launched several online exhibits to inspire future generations of women to contribute to basic and clinical science knowledge. The initiative has since morphed into the Archives for Diversity and Inclusion. Its expanded goal is to ensure the Countway Library’s Center for the History of Medicine collections reflect the diversity of the HMS community by acquiring the research, teaching, and professional records of underrepresented faculty, including women.

While she was still dean for faculty affairs, Shore organized and chaired the steering committee that developed and produced the program to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the matriculation of women at HMS. She went on to co-chair and organize events to celebrate the 70th anniversary in 2016.

“We were one of the last medical schools to admit women in the country,” Shore says. “We could either hide that fact or celebrate how far we’ve come. And so we decided to celebrate.” Shore remembers being at the School when there were no women professors; today, she points out, 22% of full professors are women. She also notes that 60% of the entering MD students in 2020 were female—a fact that brings her great pleasure.

As part of the 50th anniversary of the admission of women to HMS, and to acknowledge the important contributions of women to the School, a fellowship program was established to help junior faculty, who must teach, do research, compete for grants, publish, or practice at the same time they may be assuming increased family or other personal responsibilities. Shore says the goal was to provide protected time to pursue academic work, including research or developing a new clinical or teaching program. The program was renamed the Eleanor and Miles Shore Faculty Development Awards Program in 2004 to honor her efforts and those of her husband, the late Miles Shore, AB ’50, MD ’54, Bullard Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus at HMS.

Shore says she and her husband had firsthand experience with how external support could make a huge difference. She had been named a Macy Scholar early in her career and described it as an affirmation and morale booster. “That experience was always in the back of my mind,” she says. “The present fellowship is not exactly like that, but the concept of taking women and men who are struggling, trying to do too many things at once, and letting them know that somebody believes that they have the potential to progress—the concept is a winner.”

From 1995 to 2015, Shore has represented HMS on the Advisory Council for Real Colegio Complutense at Harvard, a joint venture between Harvard University and Complutense University in Madrid to foster scholarly and scientific exchanges. Additionally, Shore’s husband, Miles, was a member of Harvard Medical International (now known as Partners HealthCare International), which works with medical schools and health care delivery organizations to develop education and health care programs with the help of Harvard University and HMS. Shore accompanied her husband on many assignments worldwide, including trips to China, India, Dubai, and Australia. At each institution, she would meet with female faculty members to discuss the obstacles to academic advancement for women.

Shore served on her 20th, 30th, 35th, 45th, 50th, and 60th Reunion Committees and was a member of the HMS Alumni Council from 2012 to 2015. She’s also a member of the Aesculapian Club, which seeks to improve the HMS student experience.

In addition to being so generous with her time, Shore has supported HMS philanthropically. She is a consistent member of the Dean’s Council, the School’s leadership giving society, is part of the Ezekiel Hersey Council, recognizing legacy donors, and is recognized in the Federman Loyalty Circle for more than 40 years of consecutive annual gifts.

“It’s been a privilege to keep being able to work on the things that I care about,” says Shore, explaining why she remains tightly connected to her alma mater. She encourages all alumni to get involved however they can. “The School put a lot of time and effort into your education and professional training. This is the payback,” she says.