RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows Program

Sharon Tucker, PhD, RN, CNS
Nurse administrator and clinical nurse researcher for the Division of Nursing Research at Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic is an internationally renowned academic medical center that originated in Rochester, MN and has grown to include sites in Arizona and Florida, as well as expanded to the Mayo Health System (MHS), a network of regional institutions that contains 20 hospitals and 60 satellite clinics and serves a 4.5 million catchment area in southerrn Minnesota, western Wisconsin and northern Iowa. In her role as Nurse Administrator for Nursing Research, she is charged with leading a program of research related to health promotion for children and families; developing nurse researchers at Mayo Clinic through intensive research training; leading evidence-based nursing practice across the three Mayo sites and MHS; providing insitutional research related services; and providing consultation to departmental initiatives as well as consultation to over 6000 nurses at the Rochester site. Dr. Tucker has been in her current role for 5 years, and has served in multiple prior clinical, teaching and research roles in mental and behavioral health for 20 years. She has been conducting research in behavioral health for over 15 years with a focus in health promotion, risk reduction, and disease prevention and is particularly focused on studying the translation of evidence-based interventions to promote parent and child health through community and interdisciplinary partnerships. Projects include introducing standardized screening and parent training in routine well child care; using the worksite of overweight registered nurses who are parents to increase their and their children's physical activity; and targeting a community approach that involves parents and schools to teach about body mass index (BMI) and strategies for promoting a healthy BMI for parents and their children. Dr. Tucker has been awarded extramural grants totaling over 1.5 million dollars; she is serving on multiple community workgroups including recent appointments to a Childhood Obesity Prevention Alliance Steering Committee commissioned by MN Governor Tim Pawlenty and a United Way Children and Youth Solution Team; has published multiple articles; and has been selected in 2007 as a NIMH funded CHIPS (Child Intervention, Prevention and Health Services) fellow to develop a program of research related to translating best child mental health practices into well child care. She has been recognized with a number of awards and recently was recognized by the Women's ELCA at Bethel Lutheran Church for her service to her community and church.