Dr. Davis is a pediatric pulmonologist whose research is focused on diseases that affect the lungs of infants and children such as cystic fibrosis, primary ciliary dyskinesia, and lung disease related to premature birth. Specifically, by gaining a firmer understanding of the early pathogenesis of these diseases, developing new ways of assessing or predicting developing disease, and testing new therapeutics in the youngest patients, Dr. Davis’s research group aims to slow or prevent disease progression at the earliest stages of development. Dr. Davis is a world-renown expert in pediatric pulmonology, with extensive expertise in infant and preschool lung function testing, who has been a member of many national and international consensus groups responsible for establishing guidelines for the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of infants and children with pediatric respiratory disease.
Education and Training
BS in Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MD, Bowman Gray Medical School, Wake Forest University
Residency, Pediatrics, James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children, Indiana University Medical Center
Fellowship, Pediatric Pulmonology, James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children, Indiana University Medical Center
Research
Dr. Davis’s research initiatives have included:
- Evaluating and allowing for the expanded use of preschool lung function testing for monitoring lung disease progression.
- Gaining a better understanding of the links between the various genetic mutations which cause primary ciliary dyskinesia and the resultant structure/function of the respiratory cilia play in the severity and progression of disease.
- Investigating the role that viruses may play in the early disease trajectory of infants with cystic fibrosis.
- Characterizing the spectrum of respiratory disease observed in children born extremely premature and developing tools useful for clinicians to predict and allow for closer follow-up of those at higher risk of worse lung disease.
- Testing the efficacy of inhaled hypertonic saline as a therapy in infants and preschoolers with cystic fibrosis.
