Orin Shanks, Ph.D.

orin-shanks@ou.edu

Dr. Orin Shanks is an Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Oklahoma Hudson College of Public Health. He joined OUHSC from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Cincinnati, where he served as a Senior Research Geneticist in the Office of Research and Development. Dr. Shanks earned his Ph.D. in Genetics from Oregon State University and holds an M.A. in Anthropology and a B.S. in Zoology and Physiology from the University of Wyoming.

Dr. Shanks has expertise in genetic method development and validation, quantitative measurement science, microbial water quality, and the translation of scientific research to support public health decision-making. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with federal, state, academic, public health, and international laboratories.  His research interests include the development and application of digital PCR and sequencing technologies for trace analysis; microbial source tracking across environmental matrices (water, air, food, and the built environment); nucleic acid fate and transport; and environmental surveillance of pathogens, their surrogates, and other public health-relevant targets.

At the U.S. EPA, Dr. Shanks led the development of Methods 1696 and 1697 for quantification of human fecal pollution in environmental waters and a first-of-its-kind NIST Standard Reference Material (SRM 2917) supporting calibration of PCR-based methods used for fecal pollution characterization.  He is also a co-inventor on three U.S. patents involving crAssphage-like DNA sequences for measuring human fecal pollution, canine-associated genetic markers for detecting dog fecal pollution, and a metagenomic DNA-sorting approach for discovering host-associated genetic markers. 

Dr. Shanks contributes to scientific advisory groups and collaborative initiatives that include the UNESCO/MSU Global Water Pathogen Project, NIST wastewater surveillance and antimicrobial resistance genomics standards initiatives, the CDC Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, ICC Water and Health in Austria, the IWA Health-Related Water Microbiology Specialist Group, and the IJC Health Great Lakes Microbial Water Quality Assessment Project. In 2026, he served as lead author of the APHL Public Health Laboratory Guide to Microbial Wastewater Surveillance.

Dr. Shanks is married to Dr. Stephaney Shanks, a health technology executive, and has two sons, Brennon and Riley. Outside of work, he enjoys fishing and traveling with his family.