Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker

Ritchie Shoemaker MD did not always want to be a rural Family Practice physician. He was set on a career in molecular biology beginning at Duke in 1969. He studied the role of microtubules for motility in a flagellated alga, Euglena, a green algal species. He moved to electron microscope work looking at regulation of DNA transcription in Tetrahymena, a ciliated protozoan. Little did he know in 1971 that he would return to these topics after 2020. 

He turned to a primary care medical career in 1972. He graduated from Duke magna cum laude in 1973 and attended Duke Medical, graduating with honors in 1977.

He joined the NHSC, beginning his FP career in Pocomoke, Md after finishing residency in 1980. Pocomoke was a town of 2500 on the Eastern Shore ideally suited to his love of wetlands and the rich architectural history. His idyllic life was turned over with the outbreak of Pfiesteria, a mysterious dinoflagellate, which killed fish and sickened people, in 1996.

He has spent the last 27 years as a treating physician and researcher studying the chronic inflammatory and metabolic bases of biotoxin illness, called CIRS. Only recently have the mechanisms of brain injury been shown to include disruption of microtubule function, which combine with exposure to Actinobacteria, endotoxins and fungi to dysregulate gene activation and suppression.

Shoemaker has published over 55 papers, 14 books, eight book chapters and has given over 200 lectures on CIRS. His most recent studies focus on transcriptomics of molecular injury and repair, with identification of the fingerprint of Parkinson’s published 9/17/2024.

Ritchie still lives in Pocomoke, Md with his bride, Cheryl.