Haj Shirley, PhD | Executive Director
Vaccine Equity Education Coalition

Dr. Hajar Shirley is Founder and Research Director of the Vaccine Equity Education Coalition (VEEC), an independent national 501(c)(3) nonprofit advancing vaccine confidence through community-centered partnerships and peer-led education models. She is the architect of the Partner for Social Change (PFSC) framework—a research-driven, four-phase model used to design, implement, and evaluate equitable collaborations across academic, industry, and community sectors.    Her work sits at the intersection of trust, public health communication, and implementation strategy. Dr. Shirley focuses on rebuilding confidence in vaccines and science by strengthening provider–community relationships, countering misinformation through culturally responsive engagement, and developing sustainable education infrastructure where public systems have weakened.    She collaborates with health systems, pharmaceutical partners, universities, and global advocacy organizations to operationalize trust as health infrastructure—particularly in contexts where public programs have eroded and community skepticism has intensified. A UN Foundation Champion, Dr. Shirley is advancing partnership initiatives across the United States and West Africa, with a focus on last-mile childhood immunization engagement and sustainable vaccine education ecosystems.  Grounded in a research-to-practice approach, Dr. Shirley operationalizes listening, relational accountability, and measurable impact as core components of resilient health systems.