A native of Pensacola, Fla., Clark holds a bachelor's degree in microbiology from Troy (Ala.) State University and master's and doctoral degrees in pharmacognosy from UM. She served for a year as a Robert F. Welch Fellow at the Drug Dynamics Institute at the University of Texas before returning to UM.

 Clark's research interests include the discovery and development of prototype antibiotics and the use of microorganisms as tools in synthesis and metabolism studies. As principal investigator or co-principal investigator, she has been awarded more than $7 million in extramural funds to support her research program. Clark was the 1996 Rho Chi National Lecturer, the top award presented by the national pharmaceutical honor society.

 Clark is an inventor on 21 patents. She serves on the Biorganic and Natural Products Chemistry Study Section of the National Institutes of Health, is associate editor of the Journal of Natural Products and serves on the editorial board of Pharmaceutical Research. She also is a reviewer for Photochemistry, Infection and Immunity, The Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and The Annals of Pharmacotherapy. She is past president of the American Society of Pharmacognosy and an American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Fellow, a designation limited to the association's top pharmaceutical scientists. In 1989, she was awarded the Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Achievement Award for Outstanding Teaching and Scholarship, and was an American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education Fellow.