Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute

Esa M. Davis, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.F.P., is a Professor of Family and Community Medicine, the Associate Vice President of Community Health, Senior Associate Dean of Population Health and Community Medicine at the and Director of Health Equity for the University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing at the University of Maryland Baltimore. She is also the Principal investigator and Director of the Transforming Bio-medical Research and Academic Faculty Through Opportunity, Training and Mentorship (TRANSFORM) program.

Dr. Davis’s research areas include understanding perinatal determinants of adverse maternal cardiovascular health outcomes and in improving treatment strategies for tobacco use disorder in both hospitalized and presurgical patients. Her research has contributed new knowledge on the relationship of perinatal risk factors for maternal obesity, racial inequities, and adverse maternal and child health outcomes, including gestational diabetes, peripartum cardiomyopathy and hypertension disorders of pregnancy. She has conducted randomized comparative effectiveness and pragmatic trials on screening strategies for gestational diabetes, strategies to reduce postpartum hypertension, and using family home visitation to improve maternal cardiovascular health, and strategies to treat hospitalized tobacco users after discharge. Her research has involved multidisciplinary teams and partnerships with community-based organizations. Her research has been funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Institutes of Health, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She has served on national committees including National Academy of Sciences, American Heart Association Research Committee, and chaired the Peer Review Sub-committee. She currently serves on the US Preventive Services Task Force, the American Heart Association Funding and Quality Certification Committees.

Dr. Davis is a practicing board certified family physician, who maintains a primary care practice and has focused on providing women health services to underserved communities. She teaches and mentors students and trainees across all levels and disciplines. She has extensive teaching and mentoring experience and has won several research and teaching awards. She is dedicated to improving the career pathway for underrepresented minorities and women in science and medicine. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and minor in Chemistry. Dr. Davis earned her M.D. from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and completed a residency in family medicine at Overlook Hospital in New Jersey. She completed her postdoctoral research fellowship as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and a National Research Service Award Fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She earned her M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is married to a cardiologist and has two teenage children.