Michael Shannon; renowned pediatrician also gained notice on dance stage
Imagine a pas de deux danced by one, the mind of an accomplished physician in harmony with the body of a talented performer.
From childhood, Michael W. Shannon knew what he wanted to do with his life. What he didn't know was that he had been born with a physical grace that would capture the attention of audiences as he moved across a stage.
"As long as I can remember, I planned to be a doctor," Dr. Shannon told the Globe in 2001. "I wasn't going to do anything else until I took my first dance class in college, and that really kind of messed things up."
Order emerged from that experience, though, and he went on to chart paths in medicine, academia, and performance, distinguishing himself in each. Dr. Shannon, a renowned pediatric toxicologist who danced for the past eight years in the annual "Urban Nutcracker" performances in Boston, collapsed and died Tuesday in New York City after getting off a plane during a vacation. He was 55 and lived in Brookline.
"Mike was really a renaissance individual, both within and outside medicine," said Dr. Gary Fleisher, chairman of medicine at Children's Hospital. "We called him a triple threat, and just like in baseball, there aren't many triple threats in medicine. He was a very accomplished clinician and researcher, and a great educator. Patients just were awed by him."
Dr. Shannon's work was as revered when he traded his white doctor's coat for the costumes he wore each December as Drosselmeyer in "Urban Nutcracker."
"He had a very charismatic, strong presence," said Tony Williams, who created "Urban Nutcracker" and is founder and director of BalletRox in Jamaica Plain. "He was very instrumental in the enduring success of the 'Urban Nutcracker' here in Boston, which he did every year. And he did it in kind. He never took any money; he just wanted to help out. He was the pillar that the 'Urban Nutcracker' hung its whole structure on."
For Dr. Shannon, a Harvard Medical School professor who formerly was head of emergency services at Children's Hospital, the opportunity to dance was a gift that spoke to more than his abilities and talent.
"All of the songs and the way they are sung as gospel are very much a part of my rearing," he told the Globe in 2000, speaking of "Black Nativity," in which he danced the lead role that year. "I was raised in a kind of gospel Southern Baptist church setting that is very different than the church setting I'm in now, and to hear these songs really touches me. . . . It's an important piece of history because it's been around for so long."
Just as important to him was his calling in medicine. In November 2004, he became the first African-American to be appointed full professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
"I was surprised," he told the medical school's WebWeekly in an interview published the following month. "I certainly didn't think I was going to be the first one. It's a source of great personal pride and satisfaction to have met that very high standard that one must meet in order to be promoted to full professor. Frankly, it doesn't matter what color you are; it's an accomplishment."
Dr. Shannon was born and went to college in St. Louis, graduating in 1974 from Washington University. Three years later, he graduated from Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C., simultaneously receiving a master's in public health from the University of North Carolina.
During three decades in medicine, he was also a consultant to the US Defense Department and the Environmental Protection Agency and served on panels for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration.
"I think his national legacy will be elevating the field of pediatric toxicology," Fleisher said. "He was one of the two or three premier pediatric toxicologists in the world."
As an author and senior editor of "Clinical Management of Poisoning and Drug Overdose," which is in its fourth edition, Dr. Shannon was "the go-to guy" in his field, Fleisher said. And Dr. Shannon was as unforgettable in a hospital as he was on stage.
"He had a certain magnetism about him," Fleisher said. "Partly it was his physical appearance, but more because of the way he carried himself and the way he spoke. He would come into a room, and everyone would know he was there."
Taking a break from medical training in his late 20s, Dr. Shannon performed with dance companies before returning to clinical work at Boston City Hospital and Children's Hospital.
Along the way, he met Elaine Benda at a dance workshop. A couple for 27 years, they married 23 years ago. Their son, Evan, and their daughter Dalila, who is known as Lila, both attend Stanford University in California.
"He approached medicine as if it were a tango or a relationship," his wife said in a statement. The couple were returning from Argentina, where they were taking tango classes, when Dr. Shannon died.
"He was the greatest pediatrician anyone could have ever had," his son said in a statement. "People always try to reach for the stars, but it's kind of abstract. But when you have someone to look up to, it gives you something concrete to shoot for."
When Dr. Shannon arrived at Children's Hospital in the mid-1980s for a fellowship in emergency medicine, the division was small. As it grew, he became associate chief for about a decade, then head of emergency medicine for about five years. Fleisher said Dr. Shannon agreed to run a new program, as chief of clinical pharmacology, about 18 months ago.
Dancing, medicine, and family more than filled his days, and during rehearsal breaks for "Urban Nutcracker" he would sometimes edit drafts of his paperwork. Decades after first wrestling with whether to be a dancer or a doctor, he was still choosing both.
"Don't get me wrong; I get tired," he told the Globe in 2001. "I have to do overnight shifts at the hospital, and that gets harder and harder. But short of that, I'm not exhausted. I enjoy the ability to work during the day and to dance at night. I wouldn't be fulfilled if I didn't."
In addition to his wife, son, and daughter, Dr. Shannon leaves a brother, Rufus Jr. of St. Louis, and a sister, Robyn of Los Angeles.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday in First Parish Church in Brookline. 