Cynthia Davis serves as BMHCE’s Program Advisor and is a professor at Charles Drew University’s Department of Urban Public Health (CDU’s DUPH).

In fact, DUPH is housed within the Cynthia Davis Lifelong Learning Institute of Community Transformation, an institute that was named in Professor Davis’ honor in 2018 by CDU’s College of Science and Health. She has also been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts and Humanities (Hon. D.A.H.) by CDU for her exemplary lifetime of community service.

These honors came as no surprise, as Professor Davis has dedicated over 40 years in serving the health needs of medically underserved communities on a local, regional, and national level.

The majority of Professor Davis’ work has been in developing HIV/AIDS education and testing programs for at-risk communities of color.

From 1986 to 1992 she directed the CDC’s National HIV/AIDS Information and Education Project.

In 1988 she joined the Board of Directors of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest provider of HIV/AIDS care in the world.

And in 1991 she developed the first HIV mobile testing program in Los Angeles County, which is still operational and has provided free HIV screening services to over 60,000 LA County residents.

That was just the start. Professor Davis has also contributed to several other HIV/AIDS support projects, including "Dolls of Hope,” which has distributed over 6,000 handmade cloth dolls to HIV/AIDS orphans, and an LA County residential shelter for HIV positive homeless women and their children.

Moving forward, Professor Davis advises us at BMHCE in creating maternity care programs that address the systemic racism at the heart of the Black maternal health crisis.