Shirley is an experienced voluntary sector leader and has held non-executive positions in both the UK and USA.

Prior to her current role at the Royal Society for Public Health, she was Chief Executive of Dyslexia Action, the UK’s leading independent provider of services for individuals with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties, for over a decade. Shirley was interim Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, where she worked on the ‘Dementia Challenge’.

She is Chair of the think-tank, British Future and also chairs the People in UK Public Health Group, an advisory group providing independent, expert advice the UK's four devolved nations on an overarching strategy for a multidisciplinary public health workforce.