Maurice Davis, D.H.A., M.P.A., M.H.S.A.

Maurice Davis, D.H.A., M.P.A., M.H.S.A., joined NICHD's then-Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research’s Collaborative Studies Unit in 2002 as a health scientist administrator responsible for operations, protocol, and budget in the research operation of the NIH-DC Initiative to Reduce Infant Mortality in Minority Populations. This research network ran for 20 years with a funding level totaling more than $75 million. In 2012, Dr. Davis joined the Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch as a health scientist administrator, where he is responsible for a research portfolio with interests in biomedical research involving psychosocial factors associated with birth outcomes, weight gain and obesity issues during pregnancy, paternal involvement, birth outcomes and, more recently, pregnancy in women with disabilities.

Dr. Davis earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology, counseling, and health from Limestone College (South Carolina); his master’s degree from Grambling State University (Louisiana) in public administration and health services administration; and completed the Executive Minority Management Fellowship with the American Association of Health Plans, which included training at Arizona State University and George Washington University (Washington, D.C.). He received his doctorate of health administration from the Herbert H. & Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions at Central Michigan University, where he defended his dissertation, titled The Contributions of Preterm Birth to Infant Mortality Rates among African Americans, in the summer of 2014. 

Prior to completing graduate studies, Dr. Davis began working with the National Center for Sexually Transmitted Diseases, HIV, and Tuberculosis Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a public health advisor in 1991. He also worked as a public health advisor with the Bureau of Health Professions at the Health Resources and Services Administration and was responsible for the overall management of primary healthcare offices and primary health care associations across the United States.

Dr. Davis has authored and co-authored articles on infant mortality and more recently served as the guest managing editor for a supplemental edition of the Maternal and Child Health Journal.