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Staff Biographies

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.
Director, Evidence-based Practice Centers program
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 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.

Center for Primary Care, Prevention, and Clinical Partnerships (CP3)

Ronda Hughes, Ph.D., M.H.S., R.N.
Senior Health Scientist Administrator, Senior Advisor on End-of-Life Care
E-mail: Ronda.Hughes@ahrq.hhs.gov
Program Areas: Patient safety, preventive and primary health care, patient-centered health care, quality of care, healthcare disparities, vulnerable populations, end-of-life care, implementation of clinical guidelines, and current health policy issues.
Biosketch: Dr. Hughes is in CP3, where she is involved in both intramural and extramural research. Her intramural research activities include large database analysis and systematic reviews. Dr. Hughes is also the Agency's lead on end-of-life care issues and research as well as issues and research for populations with special needs as well as research relating to patient-centered care. Other areas of interest include: Preventive and primary health care; patient safety; improving the quality of health care; issues related to vulnerable populations; clinical quality improvement; and current health policy issues. Dr. Hughes regularly speaks and writes on patient safety, nursing, translational research, and end-of-life care. Prior to joining the Agency, she worked in HRSA's Bureau of Primary Health Care, where she focused on improving access to care for the underserved. Dr. Hughes received a B.S. in nursing from Boston University, a M.H.S. from Johns Hopkins University, and her Ph.D. in Health Policy, with a concentration in Health Services Research, from Johns Hopkins University. She is also a contributing editor to the American Journal of Nursing and the Journal of Applied Nursing Research.

Sally Phillips, R.N., Ph.D.
Director of Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program
E-mail: Sally.Phillips@ahrq.hhs.gov
Program Areas: Public Health Emergencies.
Biosketch: Dr. Phillips joined the staff of CP3 in September 2001 as a Senior Nurse Scholar. She managed a portfolio that ranged from her primary area of bioterrorism, to multidisciplinary education for safety and related health care workforce initiatives. Prior to joining the AHRQ staff, Dr. Phillips was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow and Health Policy Analyst for Senator Tom Harkin for 2 years. She brought a wealth of expertise in the area of multidisciplinary education, patient safety legislative initiatives, and curriculum with health professions education to her role at AHRQ. Dr. Phillips, joined the AHRQ staff in September 2002, as the Director of the Bioterrorism Preparedness Research Program, now the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program. She is an accomplished author, consultant and speaker on public health and medical preparedness and response research initiatives.

Tricia L. Trinité, M.S.P.H., APRN
Captain, U.S. Public Health Service
E-mail: Tricia.Trinite@ahrq.hhs.gov
Program Areas: Primary care delivery systems for medically underserved and vulnerable populations, prevention, quality improvement.
Biosketch: Captain Tricia Trinité, N.P., M.S.P.H., is a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. She is AANP certified as an Adult Nurse Practitioner and has a Masters in Public Health with an emphasis in occupational and environmental health. Captain Trinité comes to AHRQ from the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA)/Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHS), where she was the Director of the BPHC Health Disparities Collaborative, a large quality improvement program involving large-scale system changes in over 500 primary care organizations that provide health care access to medically underserved communities. Professional areas of interest and over 25 years of experience include primary care, public health, prevention, geriatric nursing, occupational and environmental health.

Office of the Director (OD)

Kathie Kendrick, M.S.C.S., B.S.N.
Director, Planning, Evaluation, and Program Development
E-mail: Kathie.Kendrick@ahrq.hhs.gov
Program Areas: Agency strategic planning and management, performance and accountability, program development and evaluation.
Biosketch:Ms. Kendrick became the Deputy Director of AHRQ in 2005. She joined the Office of the Director (OD) in 2000 as the Agency's Director of Planning, Evaluation, and Program Development where she was involved in developing and guiding the Agency's strategic planning processes and program development and evaluation activities. Prior to joining AHRQ, she was a Senior Health Policy Analyst in the General Accounting Office (GAO) Health Care Issue area. Ms. Kendrick has over 25 years experience in Health Care Administration, most recently as the Chief, Mental Health Outpatient Programs at the VA Medical Center in Washington, DC. Ms. Kendrick received a B.S. in Nursing from Keuka College and a M.S. in Child and Adolescent Mental Health from the University of Maryland. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in program evaluation at the University of Maryland.

Office of Communications and Knowledge Transfer (OCKT)

Marjorie Shofer, M.B.A., B.S.N.
E-mail: Marjorie.Shofer@ahrq.hhs.gov
Program Areas: Dissemination research, State health policy.
Biosketch: Margie Shofer, a senior program analyst with the division of User Liaison and Research Translation at AHRQ, 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)

Ruth Ann Hadley, B.S.N.
Small Conference Grants Administrator
E-mail: RuthAnn.Hadley@ahrq.hhs.gov
Program Areas: Conference grants.
Biosketch: Mrs. Hadley joined the Agency in 1999 as Small Conference Grants Administrator. The Small Grant Program for Conference Support is in the Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority Populations. Previous to her present position, she was the CEO for the Center for Clinical Quality Evaluation, where most of the focus was on supporting the activities of the federally funded peer review organizations. Mrs. Hadley also worked for the Partners Health Plan as the Director of Review and was one of the original clinical staff for the Georgetown University Community Health Plan, an HMO which was the basis of the Kaiser Permanente Health Plan in DC. Other professional experience has been in the public health setting, including local health departments and federally funded programs focusing on women and children, with Professional Standards Review Organizations in Virginia and DC, with private review companies, and also as a consultant, writing grant applications. Mrs. Hadley received a B.S.N. from the University of Virginia.

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 September 2008

Internet Citation:

Staff Biographies: Nurses at AHRQ. September 2008. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/about/nursing/nrsbios.htm