Dr. Zucker received her Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island, her master’s degree from Umass Amherst, and her baccalaureate degree from Mundelein College, Loyola University, Chicago, IL. She is a member of the American Academy of Nursing, completed a NINR Summer Genetics Research Institute Fellowship and is a charter Society of Gastroenterology Nursing Scholar.

Her program of research began with symptom identification and management of adverse events in person with hepatitis C particularly those in treatment, in recovery or incarcerated. She has developed an expertise in two areas: communicable disease prevention and behavioral modification for persons with substance abuse. The populations she works with are at high risk for return to substance use disorder. As part of this work, she actively participates in the American Correctional Nurses Association, Eastern Nursing Research Society, Sigma, and the American Academy of Nursing.

Current research is focused on decreasing the disparity and access by high risk persons who are homeless, incarcerated and actively addicted to substances and or/recovering. She and her collaborators hope to provide innovative, cost effective, behavioral strategies to reduce barriers, including stigma to access to treatment and wellness, especially in those who are criminal justice involved. Ongoing work continues in criminal justice health curriculum development, labyrinth walking, and national and global attention to the effects of mass incarceration on health. Recent work is looking a barriers and facilitators to adult cannabis use.

Dr. Zucker is a recognized expert behavioral treatment for stress in offenders both in the US and abroad. She is a Veriditas Certified Labyrinth Facilitator and was trained in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.

In May of 2016 she and her team received a $870,00 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association to determine change in knowledge in undergraduate nursing students who are taught SBIRT (Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment). This study, spanning, three years, trained nearly 500 students and 100 staff and faculty. In September 2020, a SAMHSA Prac-Ed Grant was awarded to Kimberly Dion, PI and Donna Zucker Co-Investigator, for two years. This funding expands and extends student nurse education to care for persons with substance use disorder (SUD), to reduce stigma and improve treatment outcomes.