Sharon E. Barrett, MS has over 30 years of leadership in public, nonprofit and private sectors in the areas of administration, program development and public health practice.
She retired from the Federal Public Health Service in 2003. Her most recent role was Director of Minority and Women's Health in the Bureau of Primary Health Care in the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Sharon currently consults on issues concerning minority and women's health, primary care, health literacy, language access and cultural competency.
As a staff consultant to the Association of Clinicians to the Underserved (ACU) , Sharon provides consultation and expertise to improve the skills of primary care clinicians who work with underserved populations.
She has served as the Principal Investigator on two studies for ACU: one examining health literacy practices of safety net providers and the other examining language access issues in primary care settings. She is currently the content expert on ACU's learning collaborative on Language, Culture and Health Literacy in primary care settings.
Sharon is the Mid-Atlantic Regional Leader and Board member of the Intercultural Cancer Council (ICC) as well as an advisory board member of The Tigerlily Foundation. Sharon is an active member of the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Roundtable on Health Literacy and is an appointed member of the DHHS Minority Women's Health Panel of Experts. She received her Masters of Science at Columbia University's School of Social Work and is currently completing her Doctorate of Public Health at Morgan State University's community public health program.