Dame Margaret June Clark, FAAN FLSW (31 May 1941 – 14 May 2025) was Professor Emeritus of Community Nursing, at

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

in Wales.

Education and career

Before qualifying as a nurse, Clark studied Classics as an undergraduate, receiving a BA from London University. Before her retirement in 2003, Clark was responsible for the development of a program of research in community health nursing and

primary health care Primary health care (PHC) is a whole-of-society approach to effectively organise and strengthen national health systems to bring services for health and wellbeing closer to communities. Primary health care enables health systems to support a pe ...

. Her special interest was the development and use of standardized

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...

s to describe nursing practice, in particular in

. In 1990, she left the NHS and went into higher education as Professor of Nursing to start a new School of Nursing at

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated to MDX) is a public research university based in Hendon, northwest London, England. The university also has campuses in Dubai and Mauritius. The name of the university is ...

. In 1997 she "went home to Wales" as the first professor of nursing at

. During the 1990s she was consultant to the

International Council of Nurses The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of more than 130 national nurses associations. It was founded in 1899 and was the first international organization for :Health care occupations, health care professionals. It is headqua ...

' project to develop an International Classification of Nursing Practice (ICNP). She was deputy president of the Welsh Nursing Academy. Clark qualified as a nurse at

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lo ...

, London, after obtaining an honours degree in Classics at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. She worked as a

health visitor Health visitors are professional individuals engaged in public health work within the domestic setting, predominantly found in countries with state-funded health systems. They are distinct from district nurses, who provide clinical healthcare, do ...

, and remained in community nursing as a manager, professor, and political advocate for nearly 40 years. She obtained her

MPhil A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at least ...

degree at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

in 1972, and her PhD from South Bank Polytechnic in 1985 on the importance of health visiting. She was heavily involved in nursing at an international level. Following the break-up of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

she worked to help develop nursing leadership in Kazakhstan and Romania. She was a visiting professor at the

University of Primorska University of Primorska ( Slovenian ''Univerza na Primorskem'', Italian ''Università del Litorale'') is a public university in Slovenia. It is located in Koper, Izola, and Portorož and is named for the Slovenian Littoral region, where it i ...

, Slovenia. She was a frequent speaker at international conferences, had participated in numerous international task groups and workshops, had acted as consultant to

WHO The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 15 ...

and ICN, and had represented the UK on ICN and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

committees. In 2001, she was the keynote speaker of the 'Anna Reynvaan Lecture' in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, The Netherlands. She was an active member of Sigma Theta Tau International, and was instrumental in establishing the Upsilon-Xi Chapter in Wales - the first in the UK and only the third in Europe and was STTI Board member from 2009 to 2011. She was an RCN activist since her student days and has held many leadership roles in the RCN, including serving as president from 1990 to 1994.

Legacy

The June Clark Travel Scholarship Trust

Honours

In 1995 she was named

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(DBE) for her services to nursing.Profile
, swansea.ac.uk; accessed 7 April 2016. She was made a Fellow of the

Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union and professional body in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916 as the College of Nursing, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Eliz ...

in 1982. She was awarded the RCN Award of Merit in 1996. She was elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, June 1941 births 2025 deaths Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the UCL Medical School Alumni of the University of Reading Alumni of London South Bank University Academics of Swansea University Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal College of Nursing Academics from Sheffield Health professionals from Sheffield Presidents of the Royal College of Nursing British nurses Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales