Pioneering Contributions
King Davis, PhD, MSW, has been a beacon in the world of social justice, illuminating and guiding policy makers, bureaucrats, practitioners, and students on the mental health realities and needs of all people, but with a focus on the African American community. Dr. Davis’ work emphasized cultural competence in relation to managed behavioral health care. His ground-breaking report for the State of Virginia, on training for work with individuals with serious mental illness, was completed while Davis held simultaneous appointments as the John Galt Endowed Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the University of Virginia, the Medical College of Virginia, and Eastern Virginia Medical School. King subsequently was named Commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services for the Commonwealth of Virginia, serving from 1990-1995.
Davis continued to hold both academic appointments and administrative leadership positions when he left Virginia for Texas. He was the executive director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, and later was selected for the Mike Hogg Endowed Chair in Community Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, College of Liberal Arts, African and African Diaspora Studies Department.
Davis’s current, unprecedented research focuses on 100 years of admissions to Virginia’s Central Lunatic Asylum State hospital, the segregated and only mental hospital for Black patients. He has received funding to preserve and digitize thousands of case records. “While the records have thus far revealed little about individual patients, they have, in the aggregate, pointed a disturbing picture of the facility’s past. And they say much about the history and oppression of institutionalized Black lives. (Britt Peterson, March 29, 2021, Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/black-asylum-files-reveal-racism/2021/03/26/ebfb2eda-6d78-11eb-9ead-673168d5b874_story.html)
Career Highlights
U.S. Army Captain King Davis served as Chief of Social Work Services at Fort Dix’s Walson Army Hospital from 1966-1969. While there, he expanded social work services to include the New Jersey community for military families with disabled children and adoptions, including provisions of clinical services to severely disabled soldiers returning from Viet Nam duty and their families. After completing his PhD, he became State Director of Community Mental Health Centers in Virginia. His academic career began at Norfolk State University’s School of Social Work (1975-85). He held multiple academic appointments in Virginia, including at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work, where he continues to serve as Professor Emeritus of Mental Health Policy.
In 2000 Davis moved to Texas, where he held the Sutherland Endowed Chair in Mental Health and Social Policy at UT School of Social Work from 2000-2011. He was named in 2012 director of UT’s Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis, College of Liberal Arts, and the Mike Hogg Endowed Chair in Community Affairs, where he is currently Professor Emeritus.
Biographic Data
Davis earned a BSW degree in 1964 from California State University Fresno, and his MSW from the same university in 1966. He received his PhD from Brandeis University’s Florence Heller School for Social Policy and Management in 1971. He lives in Virginia.
Significant Recognition and Awards
Among numerous awards and recognitions, a few highlights include: the Benjamin Rush Award, American Psychiatric Association (2019); Fellow of The American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (2010); Saul Feldman Lifetime Achievement Award, American College of Mental Health Administration (2009); Knee/Wittman Lifetime Achievement Award, NASW (2008); Lifetime Achievement Award, Council on Social Work Education (2001); Computer Applications Award, Ford Foundation, Harvard University (1993); Member, NIMH Task Force on Social Work Research (1988-91)
Significant Publications
King Davis has published widely in diverse professional journals and books, including in dentistry. He has written published reports and proceedings for federal agencies, private foundations, and national organizations. Samples:
Davis, King (2011). “Pathways to Integrated Care: Strategies for African American Organizations and Communities.” Rockville: Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health. (2005) “Environmental Factors at the State Level that Prevent Change in Mental Health Systems,” In Crossing the Quality Chasm in Behavioral Health, 21st Annual Rosalyn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy (The Carter Center in Atlanta).
Davis, King & Bent Goodley, Tricia (Eds.). 2004. The Color of Social Policy. Alexandria: Council on Social Work Education Press.
Davis, King (2008). “The Epidemiology of Disparities in the United States.” In Terry Mizrahi (Ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Social Work. NY: Oxford University Press.
Davis, King & Hyejin Jung (2012). “Conceptualizing the relationship between mental health policy and clinical practice.” In K. Sowers, Fields of Social Work Practice: A Foundation of Social Work. NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Additionally, Davis has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.