Meet Dr. Andrea Tanner
Andrea Tanner, PhD, RN, NCSN, has two decades of school nursing experience and an independent program of research focused on advancing the state of the science in school nursing and youth mental health. As a nationally certified school nurse, Dr. Tanner investigates interventions to address youth stress, coping, mental health, quality of life, and school connectedness. Dr. Tanner’s program of research includes a focus on interventions that support access to care and address social determinants of health. To do this work, Dr. Tanner collaborates with an interdisciplinary team, including researchers from nursing, public health, education, social work, and psychology. This team’s goal is to conduct research that can inform and influence school health policy at the local, state, federal, and global levels. Dr. Tanner employs a student-centered approach by conducting qualitative research with youth and families and incorporating their voices into the design of intervention research.
Dr. Tanner played a pivotal role in ensuring school nurses' voices were included in the development of the National Academy of Medicine's Future of Nursing 2020-2030 Report. She has been honored as a Campaign for Action Future of Nursing Breakthrough Leader in Nursing, an award given to 10 nurses across the nation. She has also been recognized for her research and leadership efforts by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a Future of Nursing Scholar, Midwest Nursing Research Society as an Adolescent Health Early Career Investigator, and National Academy of School Nursing as a Fellow.