Devra Davis

Davis received a BS and an MA from the University of Pittsburgh in 1967,[1] where she held National Science Foundation fellowships as an honors undergraduate and graduate student. A former Scholar in Residence at the National Academy of Sciences, she completed her PhD in science studies at the University of Chicago as a Danforth Fellow, and a MPH at Johns Hopkins University as a National Cancer Institute post-doctoral fellow.[1] She held post-doctoral positions with the National Science Foundation; in the history, sociology, and philosophy of science at Catholic University in 1971; and with the World Man Fund and Lorenz K Y Ng, MD at the National Institutes of Health between 1975 and 1976.

From 1970 to 1976, Davis was assistant professor of sociology at Queens College of City University of New York. Between 1982 and 2002, she was a faculty associate at Johns Hopkins University, Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Hygiene and Public Health.[1] She has held a number of posts at universities around the world, and as of 2011 was Senior Distinguished Visiting Research Scholar in the WHO Collaborating Center for Capacity Building in Public Health at Hebrew University, Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine.

Other previous positions are as follows:

• 1985 Visiting Professor, Environmental Medicine, University of Madrid
• 1989 Visiting Scholar, Unit of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, School of Public Health, Hebrew University
• 1994–1999 Senior Scientist, Strang Cornell Cancer Prevention Center, New York City
• 1996-97 Gotteman Distinguished Professor, Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University, New York City
• 2000–2004 Visiting Professor, H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh
• 2000–2004 Honorary Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, England
• 2001 Visiting Professor, Oberlin College, Department of Environmental Studies, Oberlin, Ohio
• 2004–10 Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh

She served as a visiting scholar at Hebrew University, School of Public Health, Unit of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in 1989.[1]

She was the founding director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute[4] from 2004 to 2010. The multidisciplinary center included experts in medicine, basic research, engineering, and public policy, who developed cutting-edge studies to identify the causes of cancer and propose policies to reduce the risks of the disease. She was also founding director of the National Academies of Sciences, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology of the US National Research Council, from 1983 to 1993, and served as Scholar in Residence from 1990 to 1993.

A member of both the American Colleges of Toxicology and of Epidemiology,[4] Davis was also a visiting professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City,[1] appointed by Irving Selikoff, a founder of occupational medicine in 1988, until that appointment was terminated by Philip Landrigan in 2010. In addition, she was a visiting scientist of the Strang Cornell Cancer Prevention Center of Rockefeller University in 1994.[1] She also advised the World Health Organization in developing its program on environmental health indicators and children's environmental health, and traveled with the United Nations Development Program to China to advise on programmatic issues.

She served as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the US National Toxicology Program between 1983 and 1986[4] and was a member of the Presidio Advisory Committee to the US government, and a steering committee member of the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program.

In 2001, Davis became one of the founders of the Green Zionist Alliance: The Grassroots Campaign for a Sustainable Israel[5] and was part of the Green Zionist Alliance slate for elections for the World Zionist Congress in 2002.[6]

Tackling publicly sensitive topics from tobacco, to asbestos to overuse of diagnostic radiation, Davis's findings and methods have been criticized,[9] in some cases being called "junk science", especially for raising concerns about cellphone safety.[10][11]

Davis publicly criticized the prominent epidemiologist Sir Richard Doll, noting in her book The Secret History of the War on Cancer that his work discovering the link between tobacco and lung cancer in 1955 had been influenced by earlier German studies in the 1930s that he had not acknowledged. Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, reviewed Davis' work favorably in a lengthy analysis in The New York Review of Books, taking great exception, however, to her critique of Doll.[12]

Davis was honored by the Betty Ford Comprehensive Cancer Center and the American Cancer Society with the Breast Cancer Awareness Award, commended by the Director of the National Cancer Institute for Outstanding Service, and appointed a Global Environmental advisor to Newsweek Magazine.[4]

She was a recipient of a Women's Leadership Exchange Compass Award, presented by OPEN: The Small Business Network from American Express, for breaking the paradigms of how women are perceived, Davis received the first Lisa Zhang Environmental Award from the United Nations in July 2008.[4]

In June 2009, Davis received the Artemis Award presented by the Euro-American Women's Council and the Greek Foreign Ministry in recognition of her outstanding contributions to science and public health policy.[4] In 2010, she was awarded the Carnegie Science Medal. In 2012, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Green America.[2][13]

She was also awarded the Nautilus Books Silver Medal for Courageous Reporting,[2] and chosen by Amazon editors as a top pick of 2014.

Davis is married to economist Richard D. Morgenstern. They live in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and have five grandchildren.[14]

Davis' books have been translated into Chinese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Japanese, and Estonian. She was National Book Award finalist, for When Smoke Ran Like Water (2002), which begins with the tale of the Donora Smog of 1948.[1][4]

Publications include the following:

• Trends in Cancer Mortality in Industrial Countries (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences) (New York Academy of Sciences, 1990). ISBN 978-0897666435.[1]
• Urban Air Pollution Risks to Children: A Global Environmental Health Indicator (World Resources Institute, 1999). ISBN 978-1569734278.[1]
• When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception And the Battle Against Pollution. (Diane Publishing Company, 2002). ISBN 978-0465015221.
• The Secret History of the War on Cancer (Basic Books, 2007). ISBN 978-0465015689.[1]
• Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family (Dutton Adult, 2010; paperback, Plume, 2011; Environmental Health Trust, 2013). ISBN 978-0991219902. Davis also co-produced a 2014 documentary film, Mobilize, based on the book.[15]

• Fresh Air interview, October 4, 2007
• Writer's Voice interview, January 2008
• TVO (Ontario) interview, October 3, 2008. Length: 26:54
• Alan Gregg Canada http://allangregg.tvo.org/episode/129397/devra-davis, October 3, 2008

• Scherer, Michael (October 26, 2010). "Cell-Phone Safety: What the FCC Didn't Test". Time. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
• Kott, Ruth E (September–October 2010). "Roaming crusader". C. vitae. University of Chicago Magazine. Retrieved August 14, 2012.

• Faculty Bio - Devra Davis at the Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh
• Devra Davis at the Environmental Health Trust
• Appearances on C-SPAN