Rate My Professor Tracy Hellem

Tracy Lynn Hellem serves as an Associate Professor of Nursing in the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing at Montana State University, located at the Missoula campus in North Corbin Hall. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, earned in 2002, and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah, completed in 2015. Her professional background includes roles as a registered nurse and nurse researcher in acute care and psychiatric settings, as well as serving as a Project Manager at the University of Utah from 2008 to 2015.

Dr. Hellem's academic interests center on complementary health techniques to enhance mood, with a particular emphasis on mind-body modalities such as dance fitness programs like OULA to alleviate depression symptoms in underserved populations, including women. Her research extends to substance use disorders, brain bioenergetics assessed via magnetic resonance spectroscopy, health behaviors among adolescents, and co-occurring mental health conditions. Key publications include 'Suicide and altitude: A systematic review of global literature' (2022), 'An Interprofessional Education Workforce Development Program in a Rural State' (2024), 'National Internet-Based Survey of the Use, Barriers, Reasons and Beliefs of Mind-Body Practices During the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic' (2021), 'A longitudinal investigation of OULA for depression in underserved adults' (2020), 'An Internet-based survey of the dance fitness program OULA' (2018), 'Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale in Methamphetamine Dependence' (2017), and 'Creatine target engagement with brain bioenergetics: a dose-ranging phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy study of adolescent females with SSRI-resistant depression' (2016). She employs methodologies such as qualitative descriptive studies, systematic reviews, internet-based surveys, and longitudinal investigations. Dr. Hellem is a co-investigator on the HRSA-funded Behavioral Health under the Big Sky initiative, which places graduate students from behavioral health disciplines into primary care settings in western Montana, and leads the BHWET West subcontract. Additionally, she chairs the Graduate Affairs and Admissions Committee from 2023 to 2025 and contributes to faculty governance within the College of Nursing.