Biographical Profile |
Linda Hawes Clever, MD, MACP, has a pioneering spirit that has been shaped by geography, encouragement, energy, good luck, and some adversity. Educated at public schools in several communities across the country, Clever sought Stanford because it was western, co-ed, and had no sororities.
At Stanford, Clever led a number of organizations and was sponsor-president of Roble Hall. Deeply in love with Jamie Clever and medicine, she married and started medical school after her undergraduate junior year. The newly designed five-year curriculum at the recently relocated School of Medicine suited her catholic interests as she finished her undergraduate degree in speech pathology and audiology. She was elected president of the student body. This was during the Vietnam War. While she was doing her post-doctoral training in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Community Medicine, and Occupational Health at Stanford and UCSF, Jamie, also an internist, entered the US Air Force.
Clever’s first position after training was as medical director of the Outpatient Clinic at St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco. She established programs for refugees, patient education research, and nurse practitioner training. Recruited by Pacific Medical Center (now California Pacific Medical Center), she became the founding chair of the first Department of Occupational Health west of the Hudson River. Clever continued serving the medical, academic, and broader communities when she started the San Francisco Clinic Chiefs group and worked with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to ameliorate the terror and discrimination of those first terrible epidemic years.
Clever was a Stanford Trustee for fourteen years; chaired the boards of San Francisco’s KQED and University High School; and was a board member of Marin Country Day School. She was a founding board member of Independent Sector, which was launched in 1980 by John W. Gardner and Brian O’Connell.
Elected to the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine), she served on numerous committees. She chaired the (standing) Committee on Personal Protective Equipment and served on the board on Health Sciences Policy. Her presidency of the Western Association of Physicians led to its resurgence; her editorship of the Western Journal of Medicine led to her membership on the Vancouver Group (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors). Her activities in the American College of Physicians led to her becoming the first woman governor in the College; she went on to be a regent and officer. She also served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and chaired the National Library of Medicine’s Literature Selection Technical Review Committee.
Clever’s over sixty publications in peer reviewed and “civilian” publications reflect her interest in the interactions of life, work, health, and renewal. When unrelenting adversity beset her, John W. Gardner’s suggestions and the welcome support of colleagues buoyed her and in 1998 she founded RENEW, a not-for-profit aimed at assuring robust health for health care professionals and others with deep commitments to service. Her book, The Fatigue Prescription: Four Ways to Renew Your Energy, Health, and Life, helps people move ahead and be more able to resolve the competing demands of personal and professional lives so they can be better than busy and because people can get exhausted doing good.
Clever’s honors include Stanford’s Dinkelspiel Award for Service to Undergraduate Education, the Stanford Medal, and the American Medical Women’s Association Elizabeth Blackwell Medal. She is a frequent speaker at schools of medicine and organizations such as the American College of Physicians, the Center for Excellence in Non-Profits, medical societies, Leadership America, Permanente Medical Group, and the Association of Nurse Leaders.
She is an active faculty contributor to Stanford’s Health Improvement Program (HIP). An engaged member of the Ladera United Church of Christ, she also treasures her membership in the International Women’s Forum (IWF) and working toward civil discourse, voters’ rights, social justice, and building community. She enjoys good walks, good conversation, and good cookies. Her husband, James A. Clever, has retired from the practice of internal medicine and numerous community and church boards as well as the Marin County Health Care District Board, to which he was elected. Their daughter is an award-winning internist and assistant dean of student affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her twins bring joy and activation to home and school alike.
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