Elizabeth Clark

Dr. Elizabeth Clark is the Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers. Located in Washington, DC, the NASW is the largest organization of professional social workers with over 150,000 members. In addition to promoting, developing, and protecting the practice of social work and social workers, NASW has a strong social justice and advocacy mission for the improvement of social conditions.

During her career, Dr. Clark has served in numerous clinical and administrative positions in social work, health care and academia. She has held the positions of Executive Director of the New York State Chapter of NASW; Chief Operating Officer for The March…Coming Together to Conquer Cancer, a national public awareness and grassroots organizing campaign; Director of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Services at Albany Medical Center in Albany, NY and Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at Albany Medical College where she was co-chair of the Cancer Center Steering Committee. Other professional experience includes Deputy Departmental Chair and Associate Professor of Health Professions at Montclair State University in New Jersey where she also served as Assistant to the Dean of the School of Professional Studies and as Vice President of the Faculty Senate. Previously, Dr. Clark developed and administered the Cancer Care Program of St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, PA.

Dr. Clark’s clinical specialty area is oncology social work. She has conducted research, developed service delivery programs and published papers and book chapters in numerous journals on psychosocial oncology and loss and bereavement. She is an editor of the book Social Work and Oncology: Supporting Survivors, Families, and Caregivers, published by the American Cancer Society, and she serves on the Editorial Boards of CURE: Cancer Updates, Research, and Education, and the journal Illness, Crisis, and Loss.

Dr. Clark is a past president of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, and is a current advisory board member and past board member of the Intercultural Cancer Council. Dr. Clark is also a member of C-Change – Collaborating to Conquer Cancer. She has been the author and project director for an educational grant, the Cancer Survival Toolbox®, a self-advocacy training program for persons with cancer. The Toolbox received the Gold Star Award from the Cancer Patient Education Network of the National Cancer Institute in 2000, as well as a Ray of Hope award from the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship in 2006. Dr. Clark has received numerous honors including the Leadership in Oncology Social Work Award from the Association of Oncology Social Work, the Distinguished Public Service Award from Rockefeller College, State University of New York at Albany, and the DeWitt Clinton Masonic Award for Community Service for her work in cancer survivorship. She also received the Outstanding Service Award from the New Jersey State Commission on Cancer Research in 1994, and she chaired the American Cancer Society’s Medical Affairs Advisory Group on Social Work Training from 1999-2001.

Dr. Clark has been a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers since 1976. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in social work and a master’s of public health from the University of Pittsburgh, as well as a master’s degree and doctorate in medical sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She recently received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Wartburg College, as well as the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.