Tim Cunningham, DrPH, MSN, RN, FAAN

Tim Cunningham serves as Board President of Clowns Without Borders, a nonprofit dedicated to alleviating suffering through laughter. Previously, he served as Co-Chief Well-Being Officer at Emory Healthcare and the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, and he is faculty at Emory’s School of Nursing. He works with interprofessional teams to promote systemic well-being for healthcare professionals, university staff, researchers, students, and communities. Tim’s clinical background is in emergency nursing, and he has authored three books on nurse well-being, along with a children’s book on resilience. His work emphasizes practicing compassion in challenging environments. Tim’s journey began in the performing arts, including theater, clowning, dance, and acrobatics. After training at Dell’Arte International (2000–2001), he performed nationally and internationally for nearly a decade. His experiences led him to join Clowns Without Borders in 2003, performing in over 20 countries in war zones, refugee camps, and crisis areas, helping children find joy despite adversity. A transformative experience in a pediatric hospital in pre-earthquake Haiti inspired Tim to pursue nursing. He earned his MSN 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 NewYork-Presbyterian. In 2016, he completed his Doctorate in Public Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.