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Scholarship Fund Established in Honor of Dr. Ronald Davis

The Dr. Ronald M. Davis Preventive Medicine Residency Scholarship fund has been established at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Davis, a U-M graduate who became president of the American Medical Association in June 2007, is also the chair of the preventive medicine residency program and an adjunct professor of epidemiology at SPH, and director of the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at Henry Ford Health System.

Davis, 52, was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He's kept a touching blog of his struggle against the particularly aggressive disease, which is available at http://www.carepages.com.

The new scholarship challenge will support physician graduate students pursing an MPH, based on merit or need. The current President's Donor Challenge will match donations to the scholarship fund $1 for $2 until Dec. 31, or until the fund is expended.

"The University of Michigan's Preventive Medicine Residency program provides a stellar experience for physicians to learn the principles of health promotion and disease prevention and how to practice population-based medicine in the public and private sectors," Davis said. "I'm honored to be linked to the Davis Preventive Medicine Residency Scholarship, and I urge those dedicated to a stronger public health infrastructure to contribute to it."

After graduating from U-M with a degree in zoology, Davis went on to the University of Chicago to earn a master's in public policy studies and an MD from the Pritzker School of Medicine in 1983.

His chief public health research interest is tobacco control, specifically the areas of tobacco control policy, including advertising and promotion, strategies to reduce exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, and activities of the tobacco industry. In addition, treatment of tobacco dependence is an important part of his research and clinical practice. Other research interests include immunization, injury control, behavioral risk factor surveillance, and conflicts of interest in scientific publication.

Davis has a long and distinguished career in public health, for complete details see: http://www.sph.umich.edu/iscr/faculty/profile.cfm?uniqname=rondavis

For more information about the scholarship and ways to contribute, please see: http://www.sph.umich.edu/alumni/giving.html

For more on the School of Public Health, see: http://www.sph.umich.edu/