Sheldon is a nursing educator, practitioner, researcher, policy analyst, administrator, and entrepreneur. He graduated from Binghamton University with a BS in nursing in 1991, and a MS in Family Nursing in 1995 becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner. He completed his PhD in nursing science at the University of Pennsylvania and post-doctoral work in the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California San Francisco.
He is a well-known HIV prevention research scientist who has maintained a primary focus on HIV prevention and treatment among underserved populations. He is lifetime member of the National Black Nurses Association and currently serves as the association’s national first vice-president. In 2020 he was appointed to be the inaugural Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion in the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing at Penn State University. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners honored him with the Towers Pinnacle Award in 2020. He holds fellowship status in the National Academies of Practice, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and the American Academy of Nursing.