Lauren Clark

Lauren Clark holds a Ph.D. in nursing and is a Professor of Nursing at UCLA, where she holds the Shaprio Family Endowed Chair in Developmental Disability Studies. She’s also the Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the School of Nursing. Over her twenty-five-year career, she served on various academic and professional leadership groups, committees, and taskforces at local, national, and international levels. She served on professional editorial boards for the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Qualitative Health Research, and Global Qualitative Nursing Research. And she also served on the Ethics Committees of two large national professional groups, the American Anthropological Association and the American Academy of Nursing.

Lauren is also an elected Fellow of the Society of Applied Anthropology, the American Academy of Nursing, the Western Academy of Nursing, and the Transcultural Nursing Society. She is serving her second term on the Board of Governors of the Western Institute of Nursing (2023-24 as President-Elect, 2024-26 as President, then 2026-27 as Past President).

Lauren is the mother of two children with developmental disabilities and has advocated for their rights in education, employment, transportation, healthcare, and community life.