As associate vice chancellor for diversity, equity, and inclusion, health sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, Paula K. Davis and her team aim to increase engagement among all health sciences stakeholders through a number of initiatives that examine the intersection of health, race, marginalized populations, and social justice.
As the founding assistant vice chancellor for health sciences diversity (in 2007), Davis has led the Office of Health Sciences Diversity (now the Office of Health Sciences Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) in coordinating the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty and students in the health sciences schools. Davis lectures on organizational cultural competence, creating inclusive environments and eliminating structural and implicit bias.
Davis has worked in a variety of student support fields, including academic advising, admissions, financial aid, alumni relations, and has worked with pre-college, undergraduate, graduate, and health professions students. Prior to transitioning to the Schools of the Health Sciences, Davis served the School of Medicine as assistant dean for student affairs, and director of diversity programs, as well as assistant dean for admissions and financial aid.
In 2003, Ms. Davis was the first individual given the Chancellor’s Affirmative Action Award. Her recent efforts, partnered with the Provost’s Office for Faculty Diversity and Development, netted the 2023 campus UPSIDE award for the Race and Social Determinants of Equity, Health and Well-being Cluster Recruitment and Retention Initiative.
Davis’s professional and service activities have included two terms as director of the northeast region of the National Association of Medical Minority Educators, vice president of the board of the FISA Foundation, board service for the Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting Corporation and M-Powerhouse of Pittsburgh, and vice president of the Greater Pittsburgh Higher Education Diversity Consortium. She is a passionate advocate for disability issues. Davis earned her BA in English Writing and MA in Speech, Rhetoric and Communications at Pitt and is a student in the School of Education’s Education Doctorate program.