Dean

Emory University has named Dr. Sean Clarke as dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, effective August 1.

Clarke comes to Emory University from New York University, where he has served as the Ursula Springer Professor in Nursing Leadership since 2022 and Executive Vice Dean from 2019 to 2024 at the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing.

Prior to joining NYU Meyers, Clarke was a tenured faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Toronto, and McGill University and held endowed chairs and codirected and directed research centers and other initiatives at those institutions before serving as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Boston College’s Connell School of Nursing from 2014 to 2018. 

A distinguished scholar, Clarke is internationally renowned for his research and leadership in nursing health services with interests in quality and safety of nursing care, nurse workforce issues, management of nursing services, and health systems changes and their impacts on the nursing profession. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Nursing Outlook, the official journal of the American Academy of Nursing and serves on several editorial boards and grant review panels. Clarke was named a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2006. He has held visiting and honorary appointments at universities around the world, and in 2025 received the Academy’s Civitas Award, which recognizes extraordinary dedication to excellence in promoting quality care.

Clarke earned a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and nutrition from the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Carleton University. He earned a Master of Science in nursing and a Doctor of Philosophy in nursing from McGill University. He also holds a certificate as Adult Critical Care Nurse Practitioner from the University of Pennsylvania.

For more information on Dr. Clarke’s appointment, click here.

This search was led by Randi Herrick and Natalie Leonhard with Alice Holland and Maya Bennett.