John Shier RN, Ph.D.

John Shier gives dynamic presentations on individuals taking responsibility for the own health, on how to use the American medical system and on how to deal with the issues that often arise at the end of life.

Following college (St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN) and military service as a Naval Air Intelligence Officer with Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 11, John returned to the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he received his Master's degree in Political Science and his Doctoral degree in Philosophy. After fourteen years as a professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, where he received the Outstanding Teacher Award, he served 18 years as the executive director of two not-for-profit organizations.

Following the 1982 death of a close friend due to cancer, he became a hospice volunteer. For 10 years he was engaged in caring for people with terminal illnesses. It was then that he decided to pursue a third career as a nurse. He returned to the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and graduated in 1994, at age 60, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. After graduation, he joined the staff of Unity Hospice in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and took a second, full-time position as a cardiac nurse at Bellin Hospital in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

After working in hospice, he returned to his philosophy and academic background to study the questions of health, disease, and the American healthcare system. He presents the results of his study and his experience as a nurse in his presentation, “Health and Healing: To Live A Long, Long Time and To Die Healthy.”