Biography

Shirley Orr, MHS, APRN, NEA-BC- Over a public health career spanning more than three decades, Shirley Orr's passion has been building relationships across boundaries to improve and advance public health practice, empowering communities to reach their full potential for health and well-being.

Shirley became involved in her state affiliate, the Kansas Public Health Association, early in her public health career and served in multiple roles, including board member, section chair, president, and affiliate representative to governing council. She later served as the Region VII representation to th Council on Affiliaites, and subsequently represented the CoA on the Action Board, which she later chaired. Through her Action Board role, Shirley also co-chaired the Joint Policy Committee. Currently, Shirley is a member of the Executive Board and has served as a member of the Finance and Audit Committee over the past three years.

Shirley currently serves the Association of Public Health Nurses (APHN) in the Executive Director role. In this role, she provided support to the RWJF Future of Public Health Nursing initiative, which included convening of the Forum on the Future of Public Health Nursing and completion of a national public health nursing enumeration.

Shirley's previous public health experience spans over 25 years in leadership roles for local and state health departments in Kansas, along with 12 years of national consulting experience, focused on public health systems improvement, public health workforce and leadership development, and organizational leadership and management.

Through her consulting practice, Shirley has worked provided assistance to support national public health standards and accreditation in approximately 40 states and the US-Associated Pacific Islands. Her consulting clients have included the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the Association of Public Health Nurses (APHN), the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), and state and local health departments, public health institutes, academic institutions, foundations and health-related organizations.

Shirley is an adjunct faculty member for the Department of Preventative Medicine and Public Health at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita and a lecturer at Wichita State University School of Nursing. She is currently a student in the PhD in Leadership and Change Program through Antioch University. 

Candidate Statement

Today more than ever, the American Public Health Association (APHA) is the vital force fighting to protect the public's health and to sustain our nation's public health system. The challenges we face as an association have never been greater, and much is demanded of us all to sustain the critical work of APHA for science, for action, and for health. 

We can only achieve our APHA mission by building and sustaining a strong and focused association, with the human and financial resources necessary to defend the public health system and fight to protect the public's health. We are very fortunate to be in a strong financial position, due in large part to the visionary leadership and stewardship of those who have come before us. I am committed to working collaboratively with APHA staff and volunteer leadership to assure the highest levels of sound fiscal stewardship to carry us through present day challenges and position us for even greater future success.

For the past three years, I have served as a member of the APHA Executive Board, in addition to service on the Personnel and Finance Committees. My service in these roles has been informed by past experiences as a member and leader of the APHA Action Board, JPC, CoA and my local and regional APHA Affiliates. Through my journey of progressive leadership within APHA, particularly my past three years of service on the Finance Committee, I have gained invaluable insights into our strengths, along with the challenges that we will face in the short term. My commitments as APHA Treasurer will be to diligently monitor and assure sound oversight of APHA's finances, ensuring that APHA has the necessary fiscal resources to achieve our mission and remain a formidable advocate for public health for years to come. 

View Shirley Orr's CV