Shirley’s career is dedicated to enhancing excellence in the delivery of contextualized care to address the symptoms and stress of serious illness. Her education, research and consultation efforts focus on quality-of-life, palliative care and transformational leadership. As Principal Investigator on studies with over $3.5 million in external funding, her work has been disseminated through more than 100 publications and 500 professional presentations. Shirley is a National Association of Social Workers Pioneer and has been recognized with Fellowships by the Association of Oncology Social Work, California Health Care Foundation and the National Academies of Practice. She was among the first to receive an international, interprofessional Master of Arts in Health Research - Palliative Care from Lancaster University in Great Britain, and is co-editor of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Social Work (now in its Second Edition).