Alexander Adu Clerk (born 13 May 1947) is a Ghanaian-American academic, psychiatrist and sleep medicine specialist who was the Director of the world's first sleep medical clinic, the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine from 1990 to 1998. Clerk is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
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Early life and family
Alexander Adu Clerk was born in Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana in 1947 to Charles Andrew Clerk, a civil servant who had done administrative stints in the northern Nigerian cities of Kano and Zaria. His paternal grandfather, Charles Emmanuel Clerk worked in the colonial Gold Coast Civil Service in the Office of the Governor. Alexander A. Clerk is a fourth generation descendant of the historically significant Clerk family of Accra, Ghana. He is a great-grandson of Alexander Worthy Clerk, a Jamaican Moravian missionary who arrived in the Danish Protectorate of Christiansborg (now the suburb of Osu) in Accra in the Gold Coast in 1843, as part of the original group of 24 West Indian missionaries who worked under the auspices of the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society of Basel, Switzerland. A.W. Clerk was a pioneer of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and a leader in education in colonial Ghana, establishing a boarding middle school in Osu, the Salem School in 1843. His paternal great-grandmother, Pauline Hesse was from the Gold Coast, and was of Danish, German and Ga-Dangme heritage. His granduncle, Nicholas Timothy Clerk (1862 - 1961), a Basel-trained theologian and missionary was elected the first Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast from 1918 to 1932 and a founding father of the all boys' boarding high school, the Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School established in 1938.
His uncle, Carl Henry Clerk (1895 - 1982), an editor, agricultural educator, school administrator, Presbyterian minister and journalist was elected the fourth Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast from 1950 to 1954 and served as the Editor of the Christian Messenger, the news bulletin of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana from 1960 to 1963. Another uncle, Theodore S. Clerk (1909 - 1965) was the first Ghanaian architect of the Gold Coast who planned and developed the port city of Tema. A. A. Clerk's aunts were Jane E. Clerk (1904 - 1999), a Gold Coast woman pioneer in education administration and Matilda J. Clerk (1916 - 1984), the second Ghanaian woman to become a physician.
His cousin, Nicholas T. Clerk (1930 - 2012), served as the Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), the Vice-Chairman of the Public Services Commission of Ghana and the Chairman of the Public Services Commission of Uganda from 1989 to 1990. Another cousin, George C. Clerk (born 1931) is a pioneering Ghanaian botanist. Pauline M. Clerk (1935 - 2013), a diplomat and presidential advisor, was also his cousin.
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Education and training
A. A. Clerk had his early education at Presbyterian and Seventh Day Adventist mission schools in Osu and Bekwai in the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions respectively. After completing his secondary education at Achimota School, he studied medicine at the University of Ghana Medical School, graduating in 1975. He completed a residency in psychiatry at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine. For clinical and fellowship training in sleep medicine, he attended the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Academic and medical career
Between 1975 and 1978, Clerk was a medical officer at the Effia-Nkwantah Hospital, Sekondi in the Western Region of Ghana. Later, he became an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine. He was also an attending physician and was appointed the Chief Director of the Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic and the Mental Hygiene Clinic at the Loma Linda Veteran Administration Hospital from 1984 to 1989. A. A. Clerk was also a consulting psychiatrist with the Riverside County Mental Health Department. Clerk was a clinical assistant professor and later, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He was an attending physician and associate director of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic at Stanford University Medical Center, part of the Stanford Health Care system, rising to become the Director of the world's first sleep medical clinic, the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine from 1990 to 1998 where he was responsible for clinical operations, sleep research and supervised training of other medical specialists. Over the course of his career, he has published numerous scientific articles, book chapters and abstracts pertaining to the science of sleep.
Clerk has done medical outreach work in the United States, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire and his native Ghana. Alexander Clerk is a founding member and Western Region Director of the Ghana Physicians and Surgeons Foundation based in New York City to promote specialist training, professional development in medicine and associated fields in Ghana. He is a member of the Fellowship Training Committee of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He has been board certified by the American Board of Sleep Medicine and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a Fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Clerk has also been affiliated to the Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center. He is the current Director of Sleep Medicine Services at the O'Connor Health Center based in San Jose, California.
Personal life
Alexander A. Clerk is married to Cynthia V. Clerk (née Oblitey) and they have three children. His siblings include the late Major (retired) A. Clerk, a military officer as well as Patrick A. Clerk, a dentist.
Selected works
- Guilleminault, C., Clerk, A., Black, J et al (1995) "Nondrug Treatment Trials in Psychophysiologic Insomnia". Archives of Internal Medicine. 155 (8)
- Newman, J. P.; Clerk, A. A.; Moore, M.; Utley, D. S.; Terris, D. J. (1996). "Recognition and Surgical Management of the Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome". The Laryngoscope. 106 (9): 1089-1093
- Terris, D. J.; Clerk, A. A.; Norbash, A. M.; Troell, R. J. (1996). "Characterization of postoperative edema following laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty using MRI and polysomnography: implications for the outpatient treatment of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome." The Laryngoscope. 106 (2 Pt 1): 124-128
- Utley, D. S.; Shin, E. J.; Clerk, A. A.; Terris, D. J. (1997). "A Cost-Effective and Rational Surgical Approach to Patients With Snoring, Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome, or Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome". The Laryngoscope. 107 (6): 726-734
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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