Background
Dr. Susan Davies comes to us from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she directed their CDC-funded Prevention Research Center and had scientific appointments in seven other centers, including their Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), Minority Health Research Center (MHRC), and Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences. She has led twelve studies as PI and served as co-PI or Investigator or numerous others.
Her research focuses on reducing HIV/STI’s and unintended pregnancy among adolescents, and promoting maternal mental health, particularly among those living in poverty. Her expertise in intervention development and evaluation has led to multiple interdisciplinary research projects and collaborations. She has studied HIV and its prevention from many perspectives, including reducing sexual risk behaviors among early adolescent girls; reducing secondary transmission of HIV among women living with HIV; identifying community barriers to HIV prevention among disenfranchised African American young adult males; and increasing family functioning of mothers and families affected by HIV.
More recently, her work has examined family patterns and neighborhood factors associated with adolescent risk and resilience. She has been a mentor on five K-awards for junior faculty members of various disciplines, in Medicine, Surgery, Public Health, Nursing and Psychology. Â She has chaired 15 dissertation committees and served on more than 40 others of students from many different departments across campus.