Dave Shuldes ’99

Meet Dave Shuldes

Retired director of Boise Respiratory Therapy after 30 years with St. Luke’s Health System and 20-year chair of Boise State Respiratory Therapy Medical Advisory Board

College of Health Sciences

Dave has served as a respiratory therapist in multiple health systems since 1982. He completed his Bachelor’s in Respiratory Therapy at Boise State University in 1999. Dave advanced into leadership and served as the Director of Respiratory Therapy for the Boise campus of St. Luke’s Health System for 25 years. He eventually took an expanded leadership role in the rehabilitation field, working on multidisciplinary St. Luke’s teams to integrate the bedside practice of respiratory therapy into a patient-focused approach to clinical care. Partnering with the medical staff, he helped develop therapist-driven protocols to ensure the appropriateness and cost-effectiveness of care.

Dave was a member of the Medical Advisory Board for the Respiratory Therapy Program in the Boise State University College of Health Sciences for 20 years and served as chair of the Advisory Board for much of his tenure. During that time the Boise State Respiratory Therapy program underwent significant changes, adding online degree completion and numerous clinical and interdisciplinary facets under the guidance of the Medical Advisory Board. The program eventually became one of the largest programs in the country for graduate respiratory therapists.

In facilitating the training of Boise State Respiratory Therapy students, Dave has focused on how these future professionals work with medical and nursing staff, pharmacists, rehabilitation, social workers and diagnosticians to center the patient. His greatest honor was being able to work with clinicians, professors and students as a team to improve the experience and outcomes of patients and families.