Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

Bio: Ray Davis, professor emeritus in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Kansas, was appointed to the health policy authority board by Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley.

Initially interested in research related to natural resources, Davis was a graduate student working as a staff member for the California State Legislature when he started hearing people talk about health policy.

“I was impressed with how complicated the issue was, to try to improve health care and improve access to services,” he said.

After completing his doctoral degree at the University of California, he joined the University of Kansas’ Department of Public Administration. Shortly after moving to Kansas, he read a news story about the “Tuskegee Study,” conducted by the United States Public Health Service to determine the long-term health effects of syphilis in young black men in the south.

The study was done without the informed consent of the subjects, and those who had the disease were not adequately treated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Something outraged me,” he said. “That got my interest in health care even more advanced than it had been up until then.”

He went on to complete a post-doctoral fellowship with the public health service and studied maternal and child health and the health of migrant workers and Native Americans.

At KU, he researched problems of access to health care. In addition to working in the Department of Public Administration, he also worked in the University’s Department of Health Policy and Administration, where he served as the department chair.

Davis was born April 11, 1941. He is married to Kathleen Davis and lives in Lawrence. They have a son, State Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence.

Interconnects: Davis has been on the national council and served as president of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration; he completed two terms in KU’s Faculty Senate and was the chairman of the Senate Executive Committee. He has served on the boards of trustees of Lawrence Memorial Hospital and the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center.

Contact: Phone: 785-864-9089

E-mail: rdavis@ku.edu