Sarah Clarke has been involved in the work of the British Cardiovascular Society since 2000. As Vice President for Education and Research, she became the first female Officer and Trustee of the Society in 2011. She was elected the first female President in 2015 and took the Society through an ambitious modernisation programme to provide a better service for members and deliver key initiatives in quality improvement, education, research and data science.
Dr Clarke trained in Cambridge, UK and at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA. She was appointed Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge in 2002. She was Clinical Director for Cardiac Services (2006-2012) and has been Clinical Director for Strategic Development since 2012. She was Cardiology Lead for the Cambridge and Peterborough STP from 2015-2019 developing evidence based clinical pathways across the system and addressing cross-cutting themes such as outpatients and out-of-hours oncall.
In 2017 she was appointed joint National Lead for Cardiology for the GIRFT, ‘Getting It Right First Time’ programme helping to improve the quality of care within the NHS by reducing unwarranted variations, bringing efficiencies and improving patient outcomes. The National Report for Caridiology is due publication later this year.
Dr Clarke was elected Councillor and Trustee to the Board of the Royal College of Physicians (London) in 2019, appointed a Trustee to the Board of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and to the Board of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in 2019. She is European Representative on the Assembly of International Governors American College of Cardiology (ACC) and Co-chair of the International Centres of Excellence Programme (ACC). Dr Clarke is Editor for Education in Heart, the international peer-reviewed journal and International Editor of the European Heart Journal.
In 2018 Dr Clarke was awarded the International Service Award from the American College of Cardiology for her outstanding contribution to enhancing cardiovascular care and education throughout the world.
Finally, in 2019 she ran the London Marathon which she sees as one of her biggest personal achievements and raised more than £10K for the BHF!