International palliative care researcher on Queen’s Birthday Honours list

Categories: Leadership.

Professor Clark was Director of the University of Glasgow Dumfries Campus from 2009 until 2015 and now leads a major research project on end of life care, also based at the Crichton.

A Vice President of Hospice UK and recently inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, he is Visiting Professor at the University of Navarra in Spain and has recently become adjunct Professor at the University of Southern Denmark. He is a member of the Lancet Commission on Pain and Palliative Care which will report later this year. He also serves as a Trustee of the Crichton Trust. 

He recently assisted the Scottish Government as Consulting Editor to its Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care. He is actively supporting attempts to bring a Maggie’s Centre to the new hospital site in Dumfries and is the driving force behind the idea of a Care Campus at the Crichton.

Professor Clark said: “I am honoured to receive this award which pays tribute to the work of so many people who are seeking to enhance educational opportunities in Dumfries and Galloway.”

“This award reflects the progress that is taking place in our region. More and more people are coming to study at the beautiful Crichton Campus, and growing numbers of international experts in a range of subjects have chosen to work at the University of Glasgow in Dumfries. I’m glad to have played a part in this, and delighted that all our efforts have been recognized.”

Professor Clark is an eminent figure in sociology and policy aspects of palliative and end of life care. He founded the Glasgow End of Life Studies Group in 2014, and his team of international academics is carrying out world class research from its base on the Crichton Campus. 

He founded the International Observatory on End of Life Care at Lancaster University in 2003, has wide ranging interests in the history and global development of palliative care and has written a book about the history of the Project on Death in America.

He recently completed a monograph on the history of palliative medicine from the nineteenth century, entitled To Comfort Always, published by Oxford University Press. With a particular knowledge of the life and work of Dame Cicely Saunders, he has edited her letters and selected publications and is now working on a new biography, to be published on the centenary of her birth in 2018. 

David remains involved in studies of the global mapping of palliative care development, and in research to inform policy and service implementation in palliative and end of life care. 

“It’s a credit to the region’s attractions and the University of Glasgow that my current team has people from seven nationalities, each bringing their own perspective to the end of life issues of Dumfries and Galloway. This recognition from Her Majesty Queen is therefore very special and will be a great boost to the diverse global community in which I work,” said Professor Clark. 

You can follow the End of Life Studies Group on Facebook and Twitter @EndofLifeStudy

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