Rebecca Clark, Ph.D.

Dr. Rebecca L. Clark is chief of PDB, which supports research, research training, and data collection in demography; behavioral and social science research on reproductive health; and population health—human health, productivity, behavior, and development at the population level.

Dr. Clark has run several scientific infrastructure programs, including the Population Dynamics Research Infrastructure Program; the institutional training grant program; and the Population Research Scientist Development Award Program. She has also overseen research programs on methodology and measurement in the behavioral and social sciences; social and demographic studies of race and ethnicity in the United States; behavioral and social research on disasters and health; health disparities among minority and underserved women; and health, environment, and economic development.

Before coming to NICHD, Dr. Clark was a senior researcher at The Urban Institute, specializing in research on immigration and immigrants. She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Population Association of America (PAA) and has held similar positions for the Southern Demographic Association and the Sociology of Population Section of the American Sociological Association. In 1990, she received the Dorothy S. Thomas Award from the PAA.

Dr. Clark received her doctorate in sociology with specializations in demography and urban studies from Brown University and held a Population Council postdoctoral fellowship at the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. She received her B.A. in psychology from Brown University, magna cum laude with departmental honors.