Sarah Parker Ward

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Sarah Parker Ward is an end-of-life strategist and death tech futurist.
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Sarah Parker Ward is an end-of-life strategist and death-tech futurist whose work challenges conventional approaches to ‘deathcare.’ She advocates for intentional, strategic planning as a pathway to more compassionate and effective end-of-life experiences.

Ward has trained under the International End of Life Doula Association (INELDA), the Oasis Institute’s Center for Mindfulness at UMass Amherst, and PsiloHealth’s Psychedelic Peer Support program. She is the co-founder, with Anish Dhanasekaran, of Clio, a platform that helps people at the end of life more quickly connect with a global community of death-care practitioners.

She holds a PhD in emerging media studies from Boston University, where she researched death cognition and its policy implications. Ward has created work with Columbia University’s Digital Storytelling Lab and has taught marketing and communications at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Boston University, and SUNY Potsdam. She has served on several nonprofit boards focused on healthcare, equitable access to the arts, and education.

She is also the proud mother of three children.
Publications by this author
Media Consumption and Creation in Attitudes Toward and Knowledge of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Web-Based Survey
Co-authors: Jacob Groshek, Miles Basil and Ling Guo | Journal of Medical Internet Research; Francis A Farraye; Jason Reich | December | 2017
This survey shows that although irritable bowel disease (IBS) affects five million people globally, 85 percent of the population doesn’t know what it is.
Media by this author
A Futurist’s Take on Ethics and the Evolution of Death Tech: Sarah Parker
Interview | December | 2024
Dr. Parker Ward shares her journey from digital advertising to becoming a pioneering voice in the intersection of technology and end-of-life planning. She offers unique insights into how the digital revolution is transforming our relationship with death and explores the emergence of innovative technologies like grief bots and digital legacy planning tools.
Sarah Parker Ward, Co-Founder of We Are Clio
Interview | August | 2024
Dr. Sarah Parker Ward talks to the Health Design podcast encouraging you to think more affectionately about death so you can experience a healthier, more fulfilling life.
Rewriting the Value of Women’s (Death) Work: A Conversation With Dr. Sarah Parker Ward
Interview | August | 2023
Sarah Parker Ward joins the Long Hall Many Doors podcast to share her expert opinion regarding the importance of death workers finding financial sustainability as it relates to the overarching health of the Holistic Death Care Movement.
Education
Health
Philosophy