Melinda Davis Named Interim Director

Melinda Davis, PhD

ORPRN is pleased to announce that Melinda Davis, Ph.D., has been appointed Interim Director of the organization.

Melinda Davis, who began at ORPRN as a practice facilitator based in La Grande in 2007, takes over as Interim Director from Nancy Elder, M.D., M.S.P.H., who is staying on in a part-time capacity to help with the leadership transition.

According to Elder, "Melinda Davis brings a unique set of experiences and expertise to her new role as Interim ORPRN Director – while achieving extraordinary success as a nationally recognized researcher in implementation science, she never forgets her rural Oregon roots as a practice facilitator. "

Davis agrees that her time in La Grande was formative, saying that having grown up in rural Washington, the decision to join ORPRN, with the organization's emphasis on creating connections with practices in rural Oregon and around the state, always felt right. "I had protected time to build relationships and understand the needs of clinics and the community."

It's those connections that have sustained Davis as she has transitioned from practice facilitation to OHSU faculty to her most recent role as ORPRN Associate Director of Research to now her role as Interim Director. "Those relationships are so important. The main thing that keeps me in this work is a connection to our members."

L.J. Fagnan, M.D., Founding Director of ORPRN concurs: "When I talk with research and OHSU colleagues and most importantly, our community, clinician, and practice partners they light up when talking about Melinda. ORPRN is all about connecting through sustained, trusted relationships. Melinda is a CONNECTOR."

One of those people that Davis connected with was Liz Powers, MD, of Winding Waters, in Enterprise. Powers says, "I've had the privilege of working with Melinda since she first joined ORPRN. She has helped and supported me--and my practice--in myriad ways over the last 15+ years. She has been a practice coach, an innovator, a mentor and a friend. Her warm personality and keen listening skills make her uniquely effective as a research coordinator, a researcher, a connector and a big-picture strategist."

As Davis sees it, "The important work that ORPRN does is to make it easier for our partners, to help them overcome challenges that might feel like they are particular to that practice but that are really structural. We span the boundary between health systems and our community partners to help clinics remain strong and self-sustaining." Making those kinds of connections is such a big part of it. "What I'm excited for in the role of Interim Director is the opportunity to listen and to deepen these connections."

Powers notes that she is "...eager to see how Melinda will lead this organization forward, and look forward to ongoing enhanced engagement (for me and for other clinicians and practices) with her at the helm. " Nancy Elder concurs: "The next iteration of ORPRN is going to be an exciting one under Melinda’s leadership."