"Defining Resiliency, Finding Connection" with Tim Cunningham, DrPH

Tim Cunningham never thought he would become a nurse. His first passion was in the performing arts—theatre, clown, dance and acrobatics. He worked as an actor for nearly a decade in various regional theatres in the U.S. and internationally. It was through those experiences that he began work with Clowns Without Borders in 2003. A small non-profit, Clowns Without Borders sends professional artists into war zones, refugee camps and other zones of crisis with the simple mission of catalyzing laughter and playfulness. Tim has performed in more than 20 countries with the clowns, he served for five years as the Executive Director of CWB and now sits on their Board of Directors. It was working in a pediatric ward in pre-earthquake Haiti that inspired Tim to study nursing. 

He graduated from the Clinical Nurse Leader program at the University of Virginia in 2009 and then worked an emergency/trauma nurse at the UVA Health System, Children’s National Medical Center and New York Presbyterian, Cornell. He has worked internationally as a clinician in post-earthquake Haiti; Sierra Leone, during the Ebola outbreak with the organization, Partners in Health; and most recently with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. His work as a clown and nurse keeps bringing him back to the central question: What keeps people resilient?  

This question helped him complete his Doctorate of Public Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. His dissertation focused on psychosocial support of expatriate Ebola aid workers in West Africa, with an emphasis on Narrative Medicine. In 2016 He joined the faculty at UVA with a joint appointment in the School of Nursing and Department of Drama. He also served as the Director of the Compassionate Care Initiative. Currently, Tim is the Vice President of Practice and Innovation at Emory Healthcare where he also holds an appointment as Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Nell Hodgson School of Nursing at Emory University. Tim is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.  

In this conversation Tim shares his unusual journey, the suffering he faced and meaning and lessons he gathered from them. Tim talks about the power  and importance of non-verbal communication, finding connection, maintaining humanity, and guides us to find our our definition of resiliency.

Tune in to learn more!

To learn more about Tim's work visit:

Twitter: @timcunninghamrn

Website: timcunninghamrn.com

Book: agoodkite.com

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