Dr. Clark received her Ph.D. in Public Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, with a concentration in quantitative methods and gerontology. Dr. Clark is a survey methodologist with methodological interests in questionnaire design and data collection methods. Her substantive research interests are in the role that psychosocial factors play in cancer detection and control among middle-aged and older adults. She is the Principal Investigator on a 5-year NCI-funded grant to assess "Comprehensive Cancer Screenings Among Unmarried Women". One objective of this grant is to compare behavioral, cognitive, and environmental factors that influence comprehensive cancer screenings among unmarried women 40 to 75 years. Women are allocated among four strata defined according to legal marital status and sexual orientation. A second objective is to evaluate three survey protocols [mailed questionnaire, telephone interview, and computerized self-administered questionnaire] for collecting data about attitudes and practices regarding cancer screenings.

She is also the Principal Investigator of a grant from the Komen Foundation about women with disabilities. One objective of this grant is to explore health care system (e.g., programs, services, provider characteristics) and environmental factors (e.g., transportation, facility locations) which facilitate and impede routine breast cancer screening for women with disabilities. A second objective is to explore how health care system and environmental factors have different impacts on routine breast cancer screening depending on a woman's type of disability (sensory, physical, mental). The third objective is to identify the facilitators and barriers to regular mammography screening among unmarried women with a self-reported disability compared to unmarried women without a disability.

Dr. Clark is also the Principal Investigator for the Measures and Methods Core of the NCI-funded Brown University Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTURC). The TTURC consists of three projects that are exploring the environmental and genetic relationships between tobacco use and psychopathologies among three generation families.

Publications

Clark, M.A., Armstrong, G., and Bonacore, L. (2005). Measuring Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression Among Middle-Aged and Older Women in a Cancer Screening Study, Journal of Cancer Education, 20: 108-112.

Clark, M.A., Bonacore, L., Wright, W., and Rakowski, W. (2003). The Cancer Screening Project for Women: Experiences with Cancer Screening Among Women Who Partner With Men and Women Who Partner With Women. Women and Health. 38: 19-33.

Clark, M.A., Rakowski, W., and Bonacore, L. (2003). Repeat Mammography: Prevalence Estimates and Challenges for Assessment. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 26(3):201-211.

Clark, M.A., W. Rakowski, B. Ehrich, B.K. Rimer, W.F. Velicer, C.E. Dube, D.N. Pearlman, K.K. Peterson, and M. Goldstein. (2002). The Effect of a Stage-Matched, Tailored Intervention on Repeat Mammography. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 22:1-7.

Clark, M.A., W. Rakowski, and B. Ehrich. (2000). Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening: Associations with Personal, Spouse's, and Combined Smoking Status. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 9:513- 516.

Clark, M.A., J.W. Hogan, F.J. Kviz, and T.R. Prohaska. (1999). Age and the Role of Symptomatology in Readiness to Quit Smoking. Addictive Behaviors, 24(1):1- 16.

Clark, M.A., W. Rakowski, B. Ehrich, D.N. Pearlman, M. Goldstein, C.E. Dube, B.K. Rimer, and H. Woolverton III. (1998). Stages of Adopting Screening Mammography: Do Women Differ in Decisional Balance Within Stages? Journal of Health Psychology, 3(4):491- 506.

Clark MA, Kviz FJ, Crittenden KS, and Warnecke RB. (1998). Psychosocial factors and smoking cessation behaviors among smokers who have and have not ever tried to quit. Health Education Research, 13:145-153.

Clark, M.A., W. Rakowski, F.J. Kviz, and J.W. Hogan. (1997). Age and Stage of Change for Smoking Cessation. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 52B:S212-S221.

Clark, M.A., F.J. Kviz, K.S. Crittenden, T.R. Prohaska, and R.B. Warnecke. (1995). Readiness of Older Adults to Stop Smoking in a Televised Intervention. Journal of Aging and Health, 7:119-138.