Myrick C. Shinall, Jr, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Surgery

Myrick C. Shinall, Jr., MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Medicine.  As a board-certified surgeon and fellowship-trained palliative care provider, his clinical practice includes elective and emergent general surgery as well as palliative care consultation.  He holds a BA in chemistry from Harvard University and a Masters of Divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School in addition to his MD and PhD in Religion, both from Vanderbilt. 

In addition to research in health services research, Dr. Shinall also has a strong interest in biomedical ethics and humanities as a faculty member of Vanderbilt's Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society.  He particularly focuses on investigating the societal forces, especially religion, that influence the way we care for seriously ill and dying patients.  He is the author of several peer-reviewed articles in the fields of surgery, medical ethics, and religion, and his first book Miracles and the Kingdom of God is due to be published in 2018 by Rowman and Littlefield.