Tim Cunningham

Tim Cunningham, DrPH, MSN, RN, FAAN, began his professional career as a performing artist and clown. As a clown, he worked for two organizations that changed his life. The first, the Big Apple Circus, employed him to perform as a clown doctor at Boston Children's Hospital, Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, and Hasbro Children's Hospital. Concurrently, he volunteered for Clowns Without Borders (CWB), performing in various refugee camps, war zones, and other global zones of crisis. He later...See more

Tim Cunningham, DrPH, MSN, RN, FAAN, began his professional career as a performing artist and clown. As a clown, he worked for two organizations that changed his life. The first, the Big Apple Circus, employed him to perform as a clown doctor at Boston Children's Hospital, Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, and Hasbro Children's Hospital. Concurrently, he volunteered for Clowns Without Borders (CWB), performing in various refugee camps, war zones, and other global zones of crisis. He later served as Executive Director of CWB. It was in pediatric hospitals and refugee camps where he witnessed and began to learn about the true meaning of resilience and self care. This performance work inspired him to pursue a career in nursing, and so Cunningham completed a second-degree nursing program at the University of Virginia. He became an emergencytrauma nurse and worked clinically in Charlottesville, Virginia;Washington, DC; and New York City. It was during his time in New York City that he completed his doctoral degree in public health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Cunningham is the former Director of the Compassionate Care Initiative at the University of Virginia, where he had the opportunity to work closely with Drs. Fontaine and May as this book came to fruition. Hecurrently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and serves as the Co-Chief Well-Being Officer for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University. He also holds a joint appointment as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. Cunningham began his academic journey receiving his BA in English from the College of William and Mary in 2000. For self care, he is an avid runner and wanna-be gardener. He loves any chance he can get to swim in the ocean or meditate as the sun rises. See less