Dr. Tanisha Clark, the founder of Phoenix Rising, hails from Dallas, Texas. Prior to receiving her doctorate in Clinical Psychology, she held leadership roles in the non-profit sector and a large urban school district. These experiences culminated in over 10 years of experience in program development and evaluation. She has partnered with local government organizations (e.g., Independent School District, County Juvenile Justice Department), in a large urban city, to develop and deliver training to behavioral health professionals serving marginalized youth. She is skilled in the use of participatory action research methods to design, disseminate, and evaluate equity based initiatives to inform service delivery. 

Dr. Clark’s work, exploring race and inequality in behavioral health, has been published in an annual book series at Pennsylvania State University. She also led the development and initial pilot of an equity audit of university doctoral curriculum at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Products from this work were presented at The University of Columbia and the American Psychological Association National Convention. She completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stanford University. She continues to train medical and behavioral health trainees and professionals in health equity.