Project Director
Tanisha Clarke, DBA, MPH directs the OPWDD-NCCC Partnership for Systems Change project. She oversees this three-year complex and multi-faceted statewide project designed to advance policies and practices of cultural and linguistic competence, diversity, equity, and inclusion in all components of the intellectual and developmental disability system of New York State. Tanisha has served in various leadership roles, where she directed public health projects and technical assistance activities, and led efforts related to cultural and linguistic competence, diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has over 20 years of progressive professional experience managing programs and capacity-building initiatives at the state and national levels focused on addressing health outcomes, reducing disparities, and influencing sustainable inclusion of people with disabilities in education, professional training, services, programs, resources, and health promotion and care. Tanisha most recently served as the Director of Research and Medical Programs at the Tourette Association of America. Before that, she was the Principal Investigator and Program Director of AUCD's National Center on Disability in Public Health. Tanisha's professional experience also includes over ten years in leadership at the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities (FCIC), a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), at the University of South Florida (USF).
Tanisha earned her Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Maryland Global Campus. She earned her Master of Public Health with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health from USF, where she was an AUCD Trainee. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with minors in public health and general business administration. In addition, she was in the first cohort of participants in the Georgetown University National Center for Cultural Competence Institute for Cultural Diversity and Cultural and Linguistic Competence.