Adele Clarke

Adele Elizabeth Clarke was an American sociologist and women's health scholar. Clarke was considered a distinguished scholar and leader in the field of Science, Technology, and Medicine Studies. She made significant contributions to sociology, history of medicine and feminist reproductive studies.

Career

She received a bachelor's degree from Barnard College in 1966 and a master's degree in sociology from New York University in 1970. She studied dance with Deborah Hay and danced in some performances of Yvonne Rainer. In 1970, Clarke moved to California teaching women's studies at College of the Redwoods and Sonoma State University. In 1985, she achieved a doctorate in sociology in 1985 from the University of California, San Francisco. Between 1987 and 1989 she held a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. Clarke was an early supporter of initiatives to decolonise social studies.
Clarke suffered an automobile accident in 1995 which caused serious injuries and back pain, and she later became disabled.
She was a faculty member in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the UCSF School of Nursing from 1985 until her retirement in 2013.