Dr. Nuckols studies the quality/safety of healthcare: how do you measure it, how do you improve it, and what does it cost? She is active in mentoring junior investigators in health services research both at the junior faculty and research stages. Dr. Nuckols is PI of an AHRQ-funded RCT testing a strategy for engaging nurses in reporting medication safety events and developing prevention strategies. She is also PI of a NIA-funded project that is developing a strategy for optimizing surgical decision making for degenerative lumbar scoliosis and spondylolisthesis. She has led multiple federally funded R01s addressing the quality and value of healthcare and Medicare policy. She has conducted economic evaluations and systematic reviews of the cost and effectiveness of quality improvement interventions related to diverse quality measures. She has also developed and applied quality measures for musculoskeletal disorders, examined the use of opioids for acute and chronic pain, and evaluated clinical practice guidelines. Dr. Nuckols has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, JAMA Internal Medicine, JAMA Network Open, among others. She has given lectures and public testimony on a variety of topics to policymakers and academic audiences.