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Noreen Clark

Noreen M. Clark, Ph.D.

Myron E. Wegman Distinguished University Professor of Public Health

Professor of Health Behavior & Health Education

Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases

Director, Center for Managing Chronic Disease

2823 SPH I
1415 Washington Heights
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2029

(734) 763-1457

E-mail: nmclark@umich.edu

Website(s): Center for Managing Chronic Disease

Curriculum Vitae (PDF, 256,614 KB)

Professional Summary

Noreen M. Clark is the Myron E. Wegman Distinguished University Professor; Professor of Health Behavior & Health Education; Professor of Pediatrics; and Director of the Center for Managing Chronic Disease at the University of Michigan. From 1995-2005 she served as Dean of Public Health and Marshall H. Becker Professor of Public Health. She is interested in systems, policies and programs that promote health, prevent illness, and enable individuals to manage disease. Dr. Clark has served in numerous leadership positions. She serves as Director of the National Program Office of the Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes.  She served as National Program Director for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Allies Against Asthma Program. She has been a member of the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. She has been president of the Society for Public Health Education and chair of the Public Health Education Section of the American Public Health Association. She has served as chair of the Behavioral Science Section of the American Thoracic Society, as a member of the Pulmonary Diseases Advisory Committee for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and as a member of the Institute's Advisory Committee on Prevention, Education, and Control. Dr. Clark was a member of the Coordinating Council of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program and of its Science Base Committee, and has chaired the American Lung Association (ALA) Technical Advisory Group on Asthma, and the Lung Diseases Care and Education Committee. She has served on both the Board and Council of the ALA. She is the former editor of Health Education and Behavior and Associate Editor of Annual Reviews of Public Health. Among other honors, she is the recipient of the Distinguished Fellow Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Society for Public Health Education; the Derryberry Award for outstanding contribution to health education in behavioral science given by the American Public Health Association (APHA); the Health Education Research Award conferred by the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for leadership and research contributions; the Distinguished Career Award in Health Education and Promotion given by the APHA; the Behavioral Science Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Thoracic Society; and the Healthtrac Education Prize. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Clark has extensive international experience. Her work has included testing of interventions designed to improve health status, quality of life, and collaborative activity among rural people in Kenya and in the Philippines, and urban dwellers in Beijing, China. In addition, she has been a consultant for a wide range of international organizations including the Ethiopian Women's Welfare Association, the Ministry of Education in Nepal, the Asia Foundation in Pakistan, the Directorate of Health in Portugal, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the Synergos Institute, the Community Health Authority of Madrid, and the Beijing Heart, Lung and Vessel Institute, among others. She serves on the board of directors of World Education Inc. and of Family Care International. Dr. Clark served on the Overseas Development Council, and on the board of the Aaron Diamond Foundation. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Education

Ph.D., Adult Education Research, Columbia University, 1976
M.Phil., Adult Education Research, Columbia University, 1975
M.A., Higher and Adult Education, Columbia University, 1972
B.S., Political Science, University of Utah, 1965

Research Interest & Projects

Center for Managing Chronic Disease Dr. Clark directs the Center for Managing Chronic Disease, a unique research and demonstration effort that involves a network of researchers and interventionists worldwide who study the social, behavioral, and clinical aspects of disease management. The Center's aim is to build the capacity for effective chronic disease prevention and management. The focus of this work is people at risk and those who can help them: family, clinicians, communities, and systems.

Dr. Clark's research specialty is management of disease, and she has conducted many large-scale program evaluations. She is attempting to identify the elements of self-regulation, and uses management of asthma and heart disease as models for examining constructs. Her studies of disease management have contributed to the research literature and the field of practice by demonstrating that educational interventions for patients and providers can decrease asthma and heart related hospitalizations and medical emergencies. Her work has resulted in an archetype educational program for health care facilities distributed by the NIH and used in hundreds of clinics nationally and internationally. A program that adapted the model for use in public schools is being disseminated by the ALA and has to date reached almost a million school children. Other model programs for management of asthma and heart disease by patients, clinicians, and communities, including PACE (Physician Asthma Care Education), are used worldwide. New models, for example, related to diabetes and obesity, are currently being studied by Dr. Clark and her research team.

Selected Publications

Clark,N.M., Cabana,M.D.,Nan,B., Gong,Z.M, Slish,K.K., Birk,N.A., Kaciroti,N (2008). The clinician-patient partnership paradigm: Outcomes associated with physician communication behavior Clinical Pediatrics, 47(1), 49-57.

Cabana,M.D., Chaffin,D.C., Jarlsberg,L.G., Thyne,S.M., Clark,N.M. (2008). Selective provision of asthma self-management tools to families Pediatrics, 121(4), e900-5.

Clark, N. M., Valerio, M. A., & Gong, Z. M (2008). Self-regulation and women with asthma Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 8(3), 222-227.

Clark, N. M., Cabana, M., Kaciroti, N., Gong, M., & Sleeman, K (2008). Long-term outcomes of physician peer teaching Clinical Pediatrics, 47(9), 883-890.

Clark, N.M., Dodge, J.A., Partridge, M.R., Martinez, F.J." (2009). Focusing on Outcomes: Making the Most of COPD Interventions. International Journal of COPD, 461-77.

Professional Affiliations

American Public Health Association, 1974 - present
Society for Public Health Education, 1974 - present
American Thoracic Society, 1989 - present
Family Care International, Board of Directors, 1987 - present
World Education, Board of Directors, 1998 - present

Additional Information

Honors: Pi Sigma Alpha

Mayhew Derryberry Award for Outstanding Contribution to Health Education in Behavioral science, The American Public Health Association (1985)

Distinguished Fellow Award, Society for Public Health Education (1987)

First National Award for Health Education Research, National Asthma Education Program (1992)

Distinguished Career Award, Public Health Education Section, American Public Health Association (1994)

DeHaan Lecturer, Emory University School of Public Health (1997)

Healthtrac Foundation Health Education Award (1997)

Alexandra and Joshua Larman Lectureship in Asthma and Allergic Diseases, University of Indiana Medical School (2000)

Elected to Membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (2000)

John P. McGovern Award, University of Texas-Houston (2001)

Leonard Ponder Distinguished Lecturer, University of Texas A&M (2004)

Parran Lecturer, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA (2005)