Rebecca E. Sutter

As a doctorally trained and credentialed Family and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Dr. Sutter serves as the Director of a network of nine Academic Nurse-managed community clinics. She has developed, implemented, and evaluated a unique model of community healthcare access and navigation called the Bridge Care Model. This model of care uses a systems approach to improve care and promote collaboration between public health, public safety, and healthcare to ensure that evidence-based treatment is available for at-risk and marginalized individuals, families, communities, and populations. She utilizes the academic nurse-managed clinics, which are strategically located in medically underserved areas (MUAs) across the Northern Virginia region, to provide services to underserved and vulnerable populations and conducts translational research on evidence-based care for patients with limited resources. She has expanded this model of care to include criminally involved, at-risk individuals being released into the community by employing a comprehensive and coordinated approach to connect them to needed health and social services through care navigation and peer recovery support programs. Dr. Sutter has a history of extensive, successful community collaborations on a variety of multidisciplinary implementation programs and research studies. As a health equity expert, she has also served as a consultant on numerous large research and implementation grants. Ongoing and recently completed projects that I would like to highlight include

• My scholarship is centered on advancing care for vulnerable and underserved populations in community settings. My translational research has focused on developing, implementing, and disseminating the Bridge Care Model, a pioneering approach to community healthcare access and navigation that addresses the complex needs of at-risk individuals. My work reflects a strong commitment to health equity and the use of multidisciplinary, collaborative strategies and advancing science that bridges the gap between healthcare, public health, and social systems to improve the well-being of vulnerable communities.
• 1. Sutter, R., Elnahas, N., & Spencer, N. (Accepted). Navigating barriers and embracing facilitators of connection: Insights from peer recovery specialists working with individuals with substance use disorder and criminal justice involvement: A qualitative analysis. Health and Justice. (In press).
• 2. Oh, K. M., Cieslowski, B., Beran, K., & Sutter, R. (2024). Nurse-led telehealth and mobile health care models for type 2 diabetes and hypertension in low-income US populations: A scoping review. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
• 3. Sutter, R., Spencer, N., Karavatas, J., & Wolf-Brangin, M. (2023). Improving health, recidivism, and engagement outcomes of persons addicted to opioids. Preprint.
• 4. Parekh, T., Cuellar, A., Farina-Morse, M., & Sutter, R. (2022). Where it really counts: Feasibility and potential of the peer-engaged empowered recovery program for substance-dependent jail inmates. Journal of Addictions Nursing.
• 5. Sutter, R., Cuellar, A., Harvey, M., & Hong, Y. A. (2020, September). Academic nurse-managed community clinics transitioning to telehealth: Case report on the rapid response to COVID-19. Preprint.
• 6. Sutter, R., Cuellar, A., Harvey, M., & Hong, Y. A. (2020, September). Academic nurse-managed community clinics transitioned to telehealth: A case study of rapid response to COVID-19. JMIR Nursing.
• 7. Morton, J. L., Weierbach, F. M., Sutter, R., & Goldschmidt, M. K. (2019). New education models for preparing pre-licensure students for community-based practice. Journal of Professional Nursing.
• 8. Sutter, R., Sutter-Dalrymple, C. J., & Skurpski, L. M. (2019). Operationalizing the Bridge Care Model—Advocating for at-risk students. Creative Nursing.
• 9. Painter, J., Mesquita, S. V. O., Jimenez, L., & Sutter, R. (2018). Vaccine-related attitudes and decision-making among uninsured, Latin American immigrant mothers of adolescent daughters: A qualitative study. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics.
• 10. Evans, J., Magee, A., Dickman, K., & Sutter, R. (2017). A plant-based nutrition program. AJN American Journal of Nursing.
• 11. Vece, L., Sutter, R., Sutter, C., & Toulouse, C. (2016). Impacting vulnerable populations through integrating oral health care into nurse-managed health centers. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners.
• 12. Sutter, R., Sutter-Dalrymple, C., & Peppard, L. E. (2015). Introducing Bridge Care: A powerful partnership between academia and community. Clinical Scholars Review.
• 13. Sutter, R., Sutter-Dalrymple, C. J., & Dickman, K. (2015). Bridge care nurse-managed clinics fill the gap in health care. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners.

• Status Proposal Amount
• Committed State OAA proposal (opioid) $200,000 (reduced from $1M)
• Awarded OAA Manassas Park proposal (opioid) $25,000
• Awarded OAA Stop Petersburg proposal (opioid) $298,300
• Awarded OAA Petersburg proposal (opioid) $140,000
• Awarded OAA Norfolk Health proposal (opioid) $240,704
• TBD JCOIN ECOP Chesterfield (opioid) $135,000
• TBD JCOIN Prince William (opioid) $135,000
• Committed GMUF/INOVA Community Health proposal (MAP) (gen oper) $25,000
• Committed Kaiser proposal (MAP) (gen oper) $75,000
• Committed Recovery Café proposal (opioid) $39,999
• Committed Proctor & Gamble proposal (gen oper, supplies only) $20,000
• Pending Delta Dental proposal (other) $100,000
• Extended 206769 (VDCCJS | JBT) extended one year to 6/30/2026 (opioid) $90,000
• Extended 224838 (ACTS GMU Collaboration) extended for year 5 to 6/30/2026 (opioid) $50,000