Sean Clarke

Faculty

Sean Clarke Headshot

Sean Clarke

PhD RN FAAN

Ursula Springer Professor in Nursing Leadership

1 212 998 5264

433 First Ave
New York, NY 10010
United States

Sean Clarke, PhD, RN, FAAN is the Ursula Springer Professor in Nursing Leadership at the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. He is a nursing health services researcher with interests in quality and safety of nursing care, nurse workforce issues, management of nursing services, as well as questions related to health systems changes and their impacts on the nursing profession. He has taught nursing leadership and professional issues, health policy, research, and clinical science courses in universities in the United States, Canada, and beyond. He currently the Editor-in-Chief of Nursing Outlook, the official journal of the American Academy of Nursing and serves on a number of editorial boards and grant review panels.

Clarke is currently co-principal investigator of Towards Magnet 3.0, a multimethod evaluation study of the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet Recognition Program, and principal investigator of the evaluation of the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation’s $51 million 5- year Nursing Initiative that is supporting workforce strategies in 13 hospitals caring for vulnerable populations in New York State.

Prior to joining the faculty at 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. He served as Executive Vice Dean at NYU Meyers from 2019 to 2024.

Among his many honors, 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.

Post-MS certificate, Adult Critical Care Nurse Practitioner, University of Pennsylvania
PhD, Nursing, McGill University
MSc(A), Nursing, McGill University
BA, Psychology, Carleton University
BSc, Biochemistry-Nutrition, University of Ottawa

Acute Care
Adult Health
Health Services Research
Health Outcomes
Health Policy
Nursing Leadership
Nursing Professional Issues
Nurse Occupational Health
Nursing workforce

American Nurses Association
American Academy of Nursing
Sigma Theta Tau International

Civitas Award, American Academy of Nursing (2025)
Creative Teaching Award, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto (2011)
Dean’s Award for Undergraduate Teaching, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (2007)
Junior Faculty Research Award, Biobehavioral and Health Sciences Division School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania (2006)
Fellow, American Academy of Nursing (2006)
Class of 1965 25th Reunion Term Chair, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing [for enduring contributions to undergraduate education] (2006)
American Academy of Nursing Media Award for coverage of Aiken, Clarke et al., JAMA, October 23/30, 2002 (2003)
Article of the Year, Academy Health [Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy] for Aiken, Clarke et al., JAMA, October 23/30, 2002 (2003)
American Academy of Nursing Media Award for coverage of Aiken, Clarke, et al. Health Affairs, 2001 (2002)
Induction into Sigma Theta Tau, Xi Chapter (1999)

Internal Divisions and “Fragile Majorities” in the Nursing Profession

Clarke, S. (2025). Nursing Outlook, 73(1). 10.1016/j.outlook.2025.102361

Thinking and Writing about Policy: Suggestions for the Nurse Scholar

Clarke, S. (2025). Nursing Outlook, 73(2). 10.1016/j.outlook.2025.102408

Disability, Inclusion, and the Future of the Nursing Profession

Clarke, S. (2024). Nursing Outlook, 72(2). 10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102155

Getting Burnout and Its Causes and Solutions Right

Clarke, S. (2024). Nursing Outlook, 72(6). 10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102334

Improving Compliance With Evidence-Based Laboratory Testing Recommendations and Monitoring Associated Patient Outcomes

Hawkins, A., Moynihan, A. M., Glassman, K., & Clarke, S. (2024). AORN Journal, 120(2), e1-e10. 10.1002/aorn.14188
Abstract
Abstract
A team comprising nursing, medical staff, and administrative leaders at an urban academic orthopedic hospital in the northeastern United States sought to revise a preoperative laboratory testing protocol based on evidence and practice guidelines. The goal was to decrease unnecessary tests by 20% without negatively affecting patient outcomes. After adding the revised protocol to the electronic health record, audits revealed that the target goal was not met and additional strategies were implemented, including educational webinars for surgeon office personnel who ordered tests, additional webinars for advanced practice professionals, and the creation of scorecards to track surgeons’ progress. Overall, a downward trend in the ordering of unnecessary laboratory tests for patients without identified risks was observed, but a 20% reduction was not achieved. Surgical complications during the project were not associated with laboratory tests. Clinicians continue to use the revised preoperative laboratory testing protocol at the facility.

Nurses as Advocates for Science and Role Models for Measured Skepticism

Clarke, S. (2024). Nursing Outlook, 72(5). 10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102274

The PhD in nursing—Questions about a credential at a crossroads

Clarke, S. (2024). Nursing Outlook, 72(3). 10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102203

Year One: Recollections and Reflections from Further Down the River

Clarke, S. (2024). Nursing Outlook, 72(1). 10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102108

Discontent in Nurse Academics: An Emerging High-Stakes Problem

Clarke, S. (2023). Nursing Outlook, 71(5). 10.1016/j.outlook.2023.102065

Greetings from the middle of a fast-moving river

Clarke, S. (2023). Nursing Outlook, 71(2). 10.1016/j.outlook.2023.101968