By Matt Hampton
For financial advisor Kevyn Schroeder, her first career as a nurse at St. Louis Children’s Hospital may not have lasted a lifetime, but it did make an enduring impression on her life. One of the most meaningful takeaways was a friendship she built with Penny Shackelford, MD ’68, professor emerita of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Penny served as Kevyn’s mentor at Children’s Hospital, the School of Medicine’s affiliated pediatric teaching hospital. They went on to forge a companionship that deepened over the decades, from Kevyn watching Penny’s daughter compete in swim meets and Penny supporting Kevyn during her aging parents’ medical difficulties to vacations the two took to destinations ranging from Chile to Hong Kong with Penny’s husband, Gary, MD ’68, professor emeritus of radiology.
“It’s like your relationship with your family,” Penny says. “It evolves over time. And we supported each other through those different stages.”
Now, their friendship will have a permanent legacy at the School of Medicine in the form of a professorship in Penny’s name that Kevyn is establishing through her estate.
The Penelope Shackelford Professorship in Pediatric Infectious Disease will enhance the Department of Pediatrics’ ability to recruit and retain exceptional faculty members. In addition, payout from the endowment will provide ongoing funding to support recipients’ clinical and research programs — and their efforts to improve infant and child health.
Though Kevyn is humble about her contribution, Penny knows the importance of professorships firsthand from her time as director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases from 1993-98.
“Professorships are the most wonderful thing when you want to attract a talented new faculty member or recognize an existing one who is doing great work,” Penny says. “They’re particularly helpful for those whose research has great potential but is not a hot topic at the moment. The financial support can make a big difference to faculty and to medical school divisions and departments. It grounds you and increases your impact.”
Penny joined the WashU faculty in 1972. As a researcher, she investigated the immune response of young children to serious bacterial infections. As an educator, she was admired by students for her Socratic method-based style in the classroom — so much so that she was voted School of Medicine teacher of the year in 1989. Her accomplishments also earned her the Distinguished Faculty Award in 1992 and the School of Medicine Alumni Faculty Award in 1998.
Kevyn started working as an aide at Children’s Hospital the summer before she began pursuing a bachelor’s degree in nursing at Saint Louis University (SLU). After graduating in 1975, she continued her part-time employment at the hospital while completing a pediatric nurse practitioner program offered through WashU’s Department of Pediatrics. During this time, she met Penny, who was an attending physician at the hospital.
Their connection grew when Penny recruited Kevyn to help with research involving group B streptococcal infections, which cause no symptoms in most adults but can be dangerous if transmitted from mothers to newborns. Kevyn interacted with study participants, collecting samples and documenting consent. She later served as an infection control nurse at the hospital and earned a master’s degree in public health and epidemiology from SLU in 1983.
Kevyn shifted to the financial sector in 1984, when she secured a position at Thomson McKinnon. She went on to spend more than 30 years at Merrill Lynch. She now works as managing director of investments at Stifel, a full-service brokerage firm based in St. Louis. Forbes magazine recognized her as a best-in-state women’s wealth advisor in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Though it has been four decades since she left nursing, Kevyn’s experiences in the field still resonate with her. Through Penny and other colleagues, she learned how to serve others and nurture meaningful relationships, lessons she carried into her current career.
“At Children’s Hospital, you worked with people who were very dedicated, very smart, and worked very hard,” Kevyn says. “It gave me a great work ethic, and it introduced me to a lot of very bright and selfless people.”
I will carry those friendships with me through the rest of my life.
Kevyn Schroeder
Kevyn also witnessed the transformative power of medicine to improve patients’ lives and hopes that by giving back, she can help further that potential and honor Penny’s mentorship and friendship.
“I hope that my gift will inspire other people to think about their lives and the people who have meant something to them or the professions they have respected, and find a reason to make an impact,” Kevyn says. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the size. It just matters that you give.”
LIKE KEVYN, YOU CAN SUPPORT THE WORK OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY THROUGH A PLANNED GIFT. PLEASE CONTACT THE OFFICE OF PLANNED GIVING TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN LEGACY AT WASHU.
plannedgiving@wustl.edu | 800.835.3503 | 314.935.5373