By Laura Gasque
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Dean and Fay B. Ireland Endowed Chair in Nursing Maria R. Shirey, PhD, MBA, MS, RN, NEA-BC, ANEF, FACHE, FNAP, FAAN, has been selected to serve on the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame Board.
The AHHOF was founded in 1997 with a purpose of recognizing those who have made outstanding contributions to, or rendered exemplary service for, health care in the state of Alabama. The contributions by the recipients must distinguish them from others working in the field. The AHHOF Board of Directors is responsible for selecting inductees from the medical, dental, nursing, health care administration, pharmaceutical, public health and academic communities. The goal is to pass on these accomplishments and examples to younger generations.
“I’m honored to be invited to join this prestigious board to recognize the work of Alabama’s health care leaders,” Shirey said. “One of the most important things we can do as nurses, especially as we work together to diversify the nursing workforce, is inspire the next generation and to model all of the possibilities there are in nursing—because the possibilities are endless. The trailblazers enshrined in the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame are all great examples of the variety of professions and impacts one can have on health care in our state and beyond and should serve as inspirations for aspiring nurses and health care professionals in Alabama.”
Shirey, who also sits on the UAB Health System Board of Directors, is an expert in leadership science and health services outcomes research across the health care continuum. She joined the UAB School of Nursing in 2013 as Assistant Dean for Clinical and Global Partnerships and chaired the School’s Department of Acute, Chronic and Continuing Care. Prior to becoming Dean of the School in June 2022 she was Associate Dean for Clinical and Global Partnerships, having strategic, financial, human resources and operational responsibility for the school’s multiple community partnerships, the faculty practice enterprise and the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Collaborating Center for International Nursing. Shirey also is a leader in clinical practice, serving as founding director for the nurse-led Heart Failure Transitional Care Services for Adults Clinic in UAB Hospital in 2014, and continuing to consult with its executive leadership. For her career contributions to advancing leadership and health systems science, Shirey was recognized in 2019 by the American Organization for Nursing Leadership with the Nurse Researcher Award. Since 2000, Shirey has maintained board certification in healthcare executive leadership and is a long time Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.
