Thomas L. Shields
Thomas L. Shields
Summer 2011 · Comment ·
Distinguished Alumnus, noted physician, and longtime UT Arlington supporter Thomas L. Shields died Jan. 11 in Fort Worth. He was 95. Dr. Shields was class president and lettered in track at North Texas Agricultural College (now UT Arlington), where he earned an associate degree in 1935. After graduating from Baylor Medical School, he served as an Army doctor during World War II. He received a Bronze Star and held the rank of lieutenant colonel. He joined the Southwestern Medical School faculty in 1948, serving as an associate professor of dermatology until leaving to establish a private dermatology practice in Fort Worth in 1949. He was honored as a UT Arlington Distinguished Alumnus in 1972 and also chaired the University’s Development Board. As a member of the Tarrant County Medical Society, Dr. Shields was chairman of its Board of Censors and served on the Committee on Physician Health and Rehabilitation. He was president of the Texas Dermatological Association and the Dallas/Fort Worth Dermatological Society, and was a former chief of dermatology at Harris Hospital and John Peter Smith Hospital, where he held a skin clinic for 20 years. In 1990 he received the prestigious Gold-Headed Cane for Tarrant County, an annual award for a physician who symbolizes the highest standards of scientific excellence and integrity. Dr. Shields retired from private practice in 1994 at age 79.
