One Resilient Neighborhood at a Time

Bloomberg Fellow Shelina Davis once imagined she might become a sports psychologist or a physician. A lifelong athlete and volleyball player, she was passionate about health and wellness. Having only been exposed to healthcare and clinical providers, she assumed the only way to make a difference in the health space was through direct patient care. Then, with the guidance of a mentor, she discovered the field of public health.

“What drew me in was the bigger picture,” Davis reflects. “Public health gave me a way to think about systems, policies, and communities. It wasn’t just about physical health, but mental, spiritual, and social well-being too–all the things that combine to make physical health possible.”

Today, Davis serves as CEO of the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI), a nonprofit that acts as a bridge between policymakers, providers, public health practitioners, and communities in Louisiana’s public health ecosystem. With more than 70 staff and hundreds of partners, LPHI works to advance equitable public health community-centered research, policy, and advocacy, and capacity-building. 

For Davis, this mission is also personal. Her lifelong engagement to health and wellness was shaped at an early age, but she also noticed early on that safety, infrastructure, and facilitators of outdoor activity impacted both her, and those around her’s ability to play and exercise, ride bikes, and have access to natural habitats. This interest, coupled with learning about public health broadened her understanding of facilitators of health, an area that came into even more acute focus after Hurricane Katrina, where her, and her neighbor’s physical environments were so profoundly changed, that in order to contemplate any aspect of health rethink rebuilding systems and the built environment was critical to health.

Despite assumptions that Louisiana’s political climate makes advancing maternal and child health initiatives difficult, Davis continues to see and believe that relationship building is at the center of  effective policy development, engagement, and success. “When you get close to an issue, you get close to people, and that brings us all closer to understanding each other,"she says. “When you lead with trust and curiosity, you find common ground, even if you don’t agree on everything.” Those relationships have helped LPHI and its partners secure policy and programmatic wins in unexpected places from securing increased Medicaid reimbursement for maternal-child health services, expanding access to remote patient monitoring, and expanded Doula Medicaid reimbursements legislation.

Davis also emphasizes the importance of persistence. “These are tough times,” she acknowledges, “but you rest, restore, and get back to work.” For her, progress often comes in local, incremental wins, small steps to reach her larger goals.

As a Bloomberg Fellow, Davis has found both inspiration and resources. From tapping into a national network of experts, to bringing colleagues into fellowship opportunities, to advancing her own DrPH studies, the fellowship has been a catalyst for growth. “The network, the funding, the collaboration—it’s been invaluable,” she says.

Davis says, “I want every person in Louisiana to have what they need to thrive. With LPHI, she is building that future—one relationship, one policy, one resilient neighborhood at a time.

To hear more from Shelina Davis, and other public health leaders, tune in to the Bloomberg American Health Summit live on September 30 at 9:00 a.m. ET. Click here to learn more.