Tim Cunningham, DrPH, MSN, RN, FAAN, is Director of the Focus Area for Compassion and Ethics at the Task Force for Global Health, based in Atlanta, Georgia. He serves as Board President of Clowns Without Borders, a nonprofit dedicated to alleviating suffering through laughter. He works with interprofessional teams to promote systemic well-being for healthcare professionals, university staff, researchers, students, and communities, while leading research on the epidemiology of compassion. Tim’s professional journey began in the performing arts, including theater, clowning, dance, and acrobatics. After training at Dell’Arte International he performed internationally for nearly a decade as a professional actor. His experiences led him to join Clowns Without Borders in 2003.
A transformative experience working as a clown in a pediatric hospital in pre-earthquake Haiti inspired Tim to pursue nursing. He earned his Masters in Clinical Nurse Leadership from the University of Virginia in 2009 and worked as an emergency/trauma nurse at UVA Health, Children’s National Medical Center, and New York-Presbyterian. In 2016, he completed his Doctorate in Public Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Tim is former Vice President and Co-Chief Well-Being Officer for Emory Healthcare, where he built Emory’s inaugural office of wellness, focused on systematic change to support the mental, physical, and professional health of 35,000 employees.
Tim has co-authored three books on nurse self-care and well-being, plus a children’s book about resilience in the face of Ebola.