Shelly Gehshan, MPP

Shelly Gehshan is the director of the Pew Children’s Dental Campaign. Prior to joining Pew, she spent nearly 20 years working for state policy makers on a range of issues affecting low-income women and children, such as oral health, behavioral health, reproductive health, service delivery and health care financing through Medicaid and SCHIP.  From 2005 to 2008, Shelly served as a senior program director at the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) in Washington, D.C. She developed NASHP’s extensive portfolio of work in the area of oral health and directed projects on health care reform, Medicaid, behavioral health and juvenile justice. Before joining NASHP, Shelly spent nine years as a program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures. At NCSL, she served as managing director and senior policy analyst for the Forum for State Health Policy Leadership, which provides training, policy analyses and technical assistance for legislators and legislative staff. Shelly spent six years as deputy director of the Southern Governors’ Association’s Infant Mortality Project, where she worked with governors and state legislators to expand access to prenatal care for low-income women. Shelly has also served as the vice-chair of the board of directors for the Children’s Dental Health Project. In 2011, the American Association of Public Health Dentistry gave her its Public Service Award. She has a master’s degree in public policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.