Clarke, Gwen
Contact Dr. Clarke
Mailing Address:
Canadian Blood Services Medical Office
8249-114th Street
Edmonton, AB T6G 2R8
MD, FRCPC
Clinical Services, Canadian Blood Services
Medical Officer, Diagnostic Services, British Columbia and Yukon Centre, Canadian Blood Services
Clinical Professor, University of Alberta, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry
Research or Clinical Interests
Dr. Clarke is a hematopathologist and clinical researcher with interests in perinatal immunohematology, perinatal/neonatal diagnostic testing, rare blood groups, quality assurance and process improvement in transfusion medicine. Her clinical and academic studies include the diagnosis and treatment of hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) and fetal/neonatal allo-immune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT).
Dr. Clarke uses simulation as a research and process improvement tool in laboratory medicine. She also collaborates with scientists and physicians in studies relating to blood product modification and patient transfusion outcomes. She is a medical educator at the undergraduate and resident levels and has worked with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada as a member of the examination board for hematopathology and residency program accreditation teams.
Brief Biography
Dr. Clarke completed her undergraduate and medical training at the University of Alberta. She pursued fellowship training in hematopathology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Clarke then returned to Alberta, where she worked as a hematopathologist and hospital blood bank medical director at a large tertiary care trauma center treating high risk obstetrical patients and general medical and surgical patients. During much of that time, she consulted for the Canadian Blood Services Prenatal Diagnostic Services laboratory in Edmonton.
In 2014, Dr. Clarke moved her primary practice to Canadian Blood Services, where she now serves as the medical lead for the diagnostic services laboratories and as a consultant for the donor testing blood group serology team. She is also involved with the reorganization and enhancement of the Canadian Blood Services rare blood donor program, is a co-editor for the Clinical Guide to Transfusion, and participates on the TRALI medical review group. Dr. Clarke is currently the Past President of the Canadian Society for Transfusion Medicine and is a member of several committees with the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT), AABB and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta.