Dr. Shepherd received his Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology, with emphasis in metabolism and biochemistry, from the University of Utah in 1987. He has been published in Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise on Cardiac Dimensional Changes (Echocardiography) in the most Highly Trained Prepubescent Runners in the U.S. (See MSSE, 1987) and other scientific journals such as The Physician and Sports Medicine. Dr. Shepherd has been a professor of exercise physiology at Marshall University for the past 17 years. He is also an adjunct professor at the Marshall University School
of Medicine.

20 years of research and testing lead Dr. Shepherd to create the HIT Center concept which he launched at his first facility in Huntington, WV in 2000. The HIT Center has proven to be a successful system of world class assessment and training for the general public and has received national recognition from Men's Journal (October issue, 2002) and Self Magazine.