Nurses at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
(AHRQ)
To facilitate contact with AHRQ nurses in the various Agency Centers and
Offices, E-mail addresses and program areas are provided. Although not all
Centers and Offices have nurses on staff, these nurses are prepared to assist
you in locating Agency information, in addition to discussing their particular
areas of interest.
Center for Outcomes and Evidence (COE)
Beth A. Collins Sharp, Ph.D., R.N.
Senior Advisor, Women's Health and Gender Research
E-mail: Beth.Collinssharp@ahrq.hhs.gov
Program Areas: nursing research and practice, maternal-child/women's health care, clinical guideline evaluation and outcomes.
Biosketch: Dr. Collins Sharp is the Senior Advisor, Women's Health and Gender Research and former Director of the Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPC) program at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Her scholarly interests are in the areas of nursing research and practice, maternal-child/women's health care, clinical guideline evaluation and outcomes. She received an Associate degree in Nursing and B.S. (Psychology) from Shenandoah College and Conservatory, a B.S. (Nursing) and M.S. (Nursing) degrees from Medical of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University and a Ph.D. (Nursing) from the University of Texas at Austin. She has taught at three large university schools of nursing, served as Nurse Coordinator in the NICHD-Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network, and practiced in a community hospital general medicine and postpartum units, an obstetric emergency room and a university mother-baby inpatient unit. Most recently, she served on the faculty of the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine and as Director of Research for the obstetrics/gynecology department. Along the way, she has served as a member of a university institutional review board, Chair of a university General Clinical Research Center Scientific Research Committee, President of the Southern Nursing Research Society, and Science Team Leader for the Evidence-Based Guideline on Cyclic Perimenstrual Pain and Discomfort, Association for Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.
Margaret Coopey, M.P.S., M.G.A., R.N.
Senior Health Policy Analyst
E-mail: Margaret.Coopey@ahrq.hhs.gov
Program
Areas: Pain management, Evidence-based Practice Centers, cancer pain, and
pressure ulcers.
Biosketch: Ms. Coopey is a health policy analyst in
COE and has been with AHRQ since 1991. She serves as a task order officer for
evidence reports developed under Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs) Program,
and also serves as a project officer for other grants and projects related to
evidence-based practice, evaluation, and implementation research.
Ernestine (Tina) Murray, M.A.S., R.N.
Captain, U.S. Public Health Service
E-mail: Ernestine.Murray@ahrq.hhs.gov
Program
areas: Tobacco use, cessation and prevention, evidence-based practice, stroke, mammography, breastfeeding, and cardiac rehabilitation.
Biosketch: Captain Murray is a commissioned nurse officer in the U.S. Public Health Service and has been with AHRQ since 1993. In her role as a senior health policy analyst, she facilitates the development of evidence reports, technology assessments, and other quality improvement tools under the Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs) Program and also serve as project officer for extramural research grants related to evidence-based practice and transferring research into practice providing senior level advice to potential grantees and awardees. In 2004 Captain Murray was appointed by the Agency Director to serve as Senior Clinical Advisor on Tobacco Use. In this capacity, she serves as the point person for the Agency's activities related to tobacco use, cessation and prevention. Before assuming her current position, Captain Murray was a nurse consultant and a scientific reviewer with the Food and Drug Administration involved in developing educational programs aimed at reducing medical errors associated with the use of medical devices by health care practitioners and evaluating medical device problem reports submitted through the Product Problem Reporting Program and the Medical Device Reporting Regulations, as they relate to the enforcement of the United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Captain Murray has over 25 years experience in critical care, both coronary care and surgical intensive care. Her experience encompasses clinical practice, nursing education, health care policy, health care research, and quality assurance. Captain Murray received a B.S.N. from Towson University, and Master of Administrative Science in Public Administration from Johns Hopkins University.
Center for Delivery, Organization, and Markets (CDOM)
Carol Stocks, M.H.S.A., R.N.
Program Analyst
E-mail: Carol.Stocks@ahrq.hhs.gov
Program Areas: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, data privacy.
Biosketch: Ms. Stocks provides assistance and support to the Health Care Utilization Project (HCUP), a Federal-State-industry partnership in health care data. She works directly with the HCUP Data Coordinator to fulfill project officer responsibilities and develop State partner relationships. She provides administrative, organizational, and clinical support to senior staff conducting health care research. Ms. Stocks serves as an Agency resource for policies on data security and protection of privacy in health care data, especially as it relates to use of administrative data, and serves as Privacy Coordinator for AHRQ's implementation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Ms. Stocks received her B.S.N. from George Mason University, and has extensive experience in hospital nursing. She received her Master of Health Services Administration from George Washington University. She is currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at the Graduate School of Nursing, Uniformed Services University for Health Sciences.
Office of Communications and Knowledge Transfer (OCKT)
Marjorie Shofer, M.B.A., B.S.N.
E-mail: Marjorie.Shofer@ahrq.hhs.gov
Program Areas: Knowledge transfer.
Biosketch: Margie Shofer joined the Office of Communications and Knowledge Transfer in 2000 and works on a number of different efforts to translate health services research findings into practice and policy decisions. Prior to working at AHRQ, Ms. Shofer was a senior policy analyst with the American Association of Health Plans and was responsible for analyzing State and Federal legislative and regulatory activities impacting managed care plans. Before that, she worked at the National Conference of State Legislatures where, as assistant staff to the Health Committee, she represented state legislatures before Congress and the Federal government. She also spent three years as committee staff for the House Environmental Matters Committee of the Maryland General Assembly, where she was responsible for analyzing all health legislation assigned to the committee. Ms. Shofer began her health care career working as an R.N. at a major teaching hospital in Philadelphia. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and from Boston University's M.B.A. program where she concentrated in health care management.
Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority Populations (OEREP)
Mary McDonald Hand, M.S.P.H., R.N.
Health Scientist Administrator
E-mail: Mary.Hand@ahrq.hhs.gov
Program Areas: Grants policy; Large Conference Grant initial contact person; project officer training and data safety and monitoring.
Biosketch: Mary Hand is a health scientist administrator with current areas of focus on grants policy, AHRQ data safety and monitoring issues/policy, and program officer training. She received her B.S.N. in Nursing from the University of Minnesota; and M.S. (Public Health) from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. She was trained as an Adult Geriatric Nurse Practitioner as part of her masters program. She completed two thirds of coursework toward a Ph.D. in program evaluation (with a minor in epidemiology) at the University of Minnesota Department of Educational Psychology. She has over 25 years experience working in cardiovascular disease education and research at the state and national levels. Prior to joining AHRQ, she served as Coordinator of the National Heart Attack Alert Program, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for 14 years, before joining AHRQ in 2005. She was a member of the Army Nurse Corps (U.S. Army Reserve) for 22 years, retiring as a Colonel after completing her last assignment as Chief Nurse of a U.S. Army Hospital Unit, based at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Current as of May 2011
Internet Citation:
Staff Biographies: Nurses at AHRQ. May 2011. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/about/nursing/nrsbios.htm
540 Gaither Road Rockville, MD 20850 