After completing a Ph.D. in nursing from McGill University, Dr. Sean Clarke completed his post-master’s critical care nurse practitioner program and postdoctoral research training at CHOPR in the T32 program in Nursing Outcomes Research. He subsequently joined the standing faculty at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and served as the Associate Director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research from 2001-2008.

Dr. Clarke, Professor and Executive Vice Dean of Rory Meyers College of Nursing at New York University previously served as Professor and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs at the Connell School of Nursing, Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA.  Prior to his move to Boston, he was on faculty at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing for 7 years, held an endowed chair in cardiovascular nursing at the University of Toronto and was an endowed chair directing a special donor-funded set of projects intended to advance collaboration between the School of Nursing and its affiliated teaching hospitals at McGill University. 

Dr. Clarke’s research has focused on quality and safety issues in acute care hospitals, workforce issues, occupational safety of nurses and the influences of economic and political factors on health care delivery and the nursing profession. He is perhaps best known for research on nurse staffing in hospitals and surveys of nurse working conditions. He has authored or coauthored over 100 peer reviewed articles and 30 book chapters, he has been a principal investigator on projects supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and has served as a co-investigator on grants totaling over $10 million over the course of his career.