Jack A Clark, PhD
Professor, Health Law, Policy & Management - Boston University School of Public Health
Biography
Jack A. Clark, PhD. I practice medical sociology in health services and policy research. My interests focus on how people, as members of society, look after their health and the health of others, including their actions as users and providers of health care. Fundamental to my work are ideas that health, health problems, remedial actions, service organizations, and related social institutions are constituted in social relations; they reflect habits, knowledge, and capabilities people have as members of society, such as their uses of language. They also reflect their authority and power as individuals and as members of social groups. Health services, both formal and informal, are patterns of these social relations. I have conducted research in how people live with chronic diseases, turn to formal and informal health services, communicate with providers of care or services, reach treatment decisions, and live with the outcomes of health care. I have worked closely with medical researchers in articulating sociological frames for diverse studies of clinical practices: patient-centered communication, treatment of early prostate cancer and its outcomes, patients’ adherence and perseverance in antiviral treatment for hepatitis C, practices of patient navigators in cancer care, negotiations between clinicians and parents regarding HPV vaccination of children, management of incidentally discovered pulmonary nodules, and the selection of candidates for liver transplantation. In many studies I have mentored faculty and students in their research. My research typically seeks to integrate quantitative and qualitative methods, albeit from a perspective strongly informed by ethnography and related methods for the analysis of social interaction, discourse, and narrative. Much of my career was spent in health services research and development in the Department of Veterans Affairs, serving as a member of the faculty of the HSR&D program at the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital in Bedford, MA, from the program’s founding in 1990 until my retirement from the VA in 2018.
Other Positions
- Member, BU-BMC Cancer Center - Boston University
- - Bedford VA - Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial VA Hosp
- - Boston Medical Center
Education
- University of Colorado Boulder, PhD Field of Study: Sociology
- University of California, San Diego, BA Field of Study: Sociology
Websites
Classes Taught
- SPHPM864
- SPHPM866
Publications
- Published on 12/12/2023
Shafer PR, Davis A, Clark JA. Finding social need-les in a haystack: ascertaining social needs of Medicare patients recorded in the notes of care managers. BMC Health Serv Res. 2023 Dec 12; 23(1):1400. PMID: 38087286.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 9/25/2022
Gillespie C, Wiener RS, Clark JA. Patient Experience of Managing Adherence to Repeat Lung Cancer Screening. J Patient Exp. 2022; 9:23743735221126146. PMID: 36187210.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 9/5/2022
Arney J, Gray C, Walling AM, Clark JA, Smith D, Melcher J, Asch S, Kanwal F, Naik AD. Two mental models of integrated care for advanced liver disease: qualitative study of multidisciplinary health professionals. BMJ Open. 2022 Sep 05; 12(9):e062836. PMID: 36691142.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 6/4/2022
Gray C, Arney J, Clark JA, Walling AM, Kanwal F, Naik AD. The chosen and the unchosen: How eligibility for liver transplant influences the lived experiences of patients with advanced liver disease. Soc Sci Med. 2022 Jul; 305:115113. PMID: 35690034.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 5/1/2022
Choi S, Rosenbloom D, Stein MD, Raifman J, Clark JA. Differential Gateways, Facilitators, and Barriers to Substance Use Disorder Treatment for Pregnant Women and Mothers: A Scoping Systematic Review. J Addict Med. 2022 May-Jun 01; 16(3):e185-e196. PMID: 34380985.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 2/18/2022
Arney J, Gray C, Clark JA, Smith D, Swank A, Matlock DD, Melcher J, Kanwal F, Naik AD. Prognosis conversations in advanced liver disease: A qualitative interview study with health professionals and patients. PLoS One. 2022; 17(2):e0263874. PMID: 35180233.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 10/29/2021
Choi S, Stein MD, Raifman J, Rosenbloom D, Clark JA. Estimating the impact on initiating medications for opioid use disorder of state policies expanding Medicaid and prohibiting substance use during pregnancy. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2021 12 01; 229(Pt A):109162. PMID: 34768053.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 8/7/2021
Choi S, Stein MD, Raifman J, Rosenbloom D, Clark JA. Motherhood, pregnancy and gateways to intervene in substance use disorder. Health Soc Care Community. 2022 Jul; 30(4):e1268-e1277. PMID: 34363426.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 7/1/2021
Drainoni ML, Biancarelli D, Jansen E, Bernstein J, Joseph N, Eun TJ, Fenton AHTR, Clark JA, Hanchate A, Legler A, Schuch TJ, Leschly K, Perkins RB. Provider and Practice Experience Integrating the Dose-HPV Intervention into Clinical Practice. J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2021 07 01; 41(3):195-201. PMID: 33973928.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 6/15/2020
Perkins RB, Legler A, Jansen E, Bernstein J, Pierre-Joseph N, Eun TJ, Biancarelli DL, Schuch TJ, Leschly K, Fenton ATHR, Adams WG, Clark JA, Drainoni ML, Hanchate A. Improving HPV Vaccination Rates: A Stepped-Wedge Randomized Trial. Pediatrics. 2020 07; 146(1). PMID: 32540986.
Read At: PubMed
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