Kolu Clark, MPH ’23, is no stranger to pivotal decisions. As a girl, she chose to remain in Liberia during its civil war to care for her siblings, while her parents left to establish themselves in the United States. As a teenager, she made the life-changing decision to emigrate to the U.S. And later, as an adult, she resolved to expand her career from nursing to health policy, combining a personal commitment to patient care with a systems-level perspective on healthcare delivery. 

Building on these experiences, Clark has focused her career on helping patients and healthcare providers make important medical decisions together. This approach, called shared decision-making (SDM), involves patients and doctors discussing both personal preferences and medical evidence to create the best care plan. By integrating medical expertise with patients’ values and preferences, SDM fosters trust, improves outcomes, and empowers individuals to take an active role in their health. 

Caring for Others from Liberia to Rhode Island 

Clark’s story begins in Liberia in 1985, where she grew up during one of Africa’s most prolonged and devastating internecine conflicts. With her parents leaving the country for the U.S. when she was just an adolescent, Clark made the difficult choice to stay behind and care for her three younger siblings. “I was always the rebellious type,” she recalls, reflecting on the decision that thrust her into a caregiving role at a young age. 

By 2003, one of the war’s deadliest years, Clark decided to leave Liberia and reunite with her family in Providence, Rhode Island. “You’re not responsible for where you come from, but you’re certainly responsible for where you go,” her mother often told her—a mantra that shaped Clark’s life and ambitions. Adjusting to a new country and culture was challenging. “I didn’t speak up in class because I was aware of my differences,” she says. “I didn’t look like other people. I had an accent. I felt out of place.”  

Behind her quiet demeanor was fierce determination. Working as a nursing assistant while pursuing a chemistry degree at Rhode Island College, Clark initially planned to become a clinical pharmacist. Growing up, Clark recalls hearing the voice of her grandmother repeatedly insisting that she was destined to be a nurse. “I resisted it,” Clark laughs. “Looking back, she saw something in me that I didn’t see at the time. She saw the mother in me. The caring person in me.” 

Clark’s career began in nursing, but it quickly expanded. At the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions (MGHIHP), she became a registered nurse, then a nurse practitioner, before earning her doctorate in 2017. Her time at MGHIHP introduced her to shared decision-making (SDM), which “aligns perfectly with patient-centered care,” Clark says. “It’s about combining the practitioner’s medical expertise with the patient’s values, beliefs, and preferences to make informed decisions together.” 

Clark’s postdoctoral fellowship at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in West Haven, Connecticut deepened her commitment to SDM. There, she not only practiced SDM clinically but also began exploring its implications for healthcare policy. She became a vocal advocate for value-based care, a model that prioritizes patient outcomes over service volume.  

“It’s about providing care that’s not just efficient but meaningful for patients,” she says. 

Expanding Impact at Geisel 

To amplify her advocacy work, Clark pursued a Master of Public Health (MPH) at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. “Dartmouth helped me look at the bigger picture,” she says. “I learned how to turn ideas into actionable practices.”

The MPH program introduced Clark to the concept of “coproduction,” a collaborative approach where patients, families, and providers work together to design and deliver care. She credits the program with grounding theoretical concepts like SDM in real-world applications. “Shared decision-making isn’t just an idea; it’s a practical tool that builds trust and improves patient outcomes.” 

Clark’s capstone projects during the MPH program demonstrated this real-world impact. For one project, she developed a training module on SDM for clinicians at the VA Nursing Academy Partnership at the White River Junction VA Medical Center, a teaching hospital affiliated with Geisel. In another, she published two papers in The Permanente Journal that explored SDM and patient-centered care. 

“I have five degrees, and my MPH at Dartmouth is the one I enjoyed the most,” she says.  

A Legacy of Shared Decision-Making 

Clark and Dartmouth were a good fit. The institution’s history in SDM dates back to the 1970s and includes the establishment of the nation’s first Center for Shared Decision Making at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. 

Founded in 1999, this center was built to address a critical gap: patients often felt overwhelmed by complex medical information, leaving them ill-equipped to make informed choices about their care. Dartmouth’s approach, which includes decision aids and educational resources, shifted the paradigm from informed consent to engaged choice. 

Today, Clark is advancing this legacy by helping patients become active partners in their care. As a Quality Improvement Specialist at VA Connecticut and in her clinical work at the UMass Health System, she focuses on implementing SDM to improve health outcomes.  

“At the heart of it, shared decision-making is about trust and respect for the people you serve,” Clark says. “I’m on a mission. There are people relying on me, and it’s my responsibility to consider the impact I can have on the world.” 

Written by: Jeremy Martin