Ramona T. Mercer

Ramona Thieme Mercer (born October 4, 1929) is the author of a mid-range nursing theory known as maternal role attainment. Mercer has contributed many works to the refinement of this theory and is credited as a nurse-theorist. She was the Nahm Lecturer 1984 at the University of California.

Career
Mercer earned a diploma from St. Margaret’s School of Nursing in Montgomery, Alabama. She earned an undergraduate degree in nursing with distinction from the University of New Mexico in 1962, followed by a master's degree in maternal child nursing from Emory University in 1964. For ten years, she worked as a staff nurse, head nurse and instructor. She was a faculty member at Emory University for five years until she left to pursue doctoral studies in maternity nursing at the University of Pittsburgh.

Honors and awards
1988: Distinguished Research Lectureship Award, Western Society for Research in Nursing (inaugural award) 2003: Living Legend, American Academy of Nursing 2004: Distinguished Alumni Award, University of New Mexico College of Nursing