Shirley Orr, PhD, MHS

Shirley Orr is a public health consultant and President of SOCO Consulting. She previously served as Director of Local Health for the Bureau of Local and Rural Health, Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Through her consulting practice, Shirley has provided assistance to support national public health standards and accreditation in approximately 25 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), state and local health departments, public health institutes, foundations, and other health-related organizations. Shirley currently consults for the Association of Public Health Nurses (APHN) in the executive director role, and for the Public Health Accreditation Board as a PHAB Associate. Previously, 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 is an adjunct faculty member for the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita and a lecturer for the Wichita State University School of Nursing. She is currently a student in the PhD in Leadership and Change Program through Antioch University.   Shirley is a past-president of the Kansas Public Health Association (KPHA) and APHN. She currently serves on the American Public Health Association (APHA) Council on Affiliates and on the APHA Action Board.