From 1969 to 1972, James Shepherd held the post of lecturer in biochemistry and from 1972 to 1988, Senior Lecturer in the University of Glasgow, and in 1988 was appointed Professor and head of the Department of Vascular Biochemistry in the University of Glasgow and was to become the principal investigator in the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOSCOPS), examining the levels of fat in the blood.
The results of the WOSCOPS study and trial were simultaneously presented at the Annual Conference of the American Heart Association (November, 1995) and in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The study findings have led to treatment by administering of pravastatins being adopted around the world in prevention of ischaemic heart disease.
In November 2002, Shepherd presented the results of a further study, 1998–2002, ((PROSPER), investigating the benefits of cholesterol-lowering in the elderly, and conducted in The Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom), to the American Heart Association in Chicago.
Professor Shepherd has written widely, his Papers including: Lipoproteins in Coronary Heart Disease (1986), Atherosclerosis: Developments, Complications and Treatment (1987), Coronary Risks Revisited (1989), Lipids and Atherosclerosis Annual 2003 (2003), Statins: The HMG CoA Reductase Inhibitors in Perspective (Taylor & Francis; 2 edition (16 April 2007)[7][8]