Getting to know Dr. Davis’s journey to research  

Dr. Melinda Davis has a bachelor’s degree in biology and a Ph.D. in social developmental psychology. She defines her role in research as a “participatory implementation scientist” – this means she seeks to understand the needs and interests of local partners, identify what interventions are effective for these topics, then use a process of partnership and co-design to adapt and incorporate those interventions into routine care. She is especially committed to bringing research resources to serve our rural communities (or to amplify the strengths/solutions they already have in place). Her recent studies have focused on improving screening and prevention for behavioral health conditions and cancer. Much of her work is based in primary care settings but supports cross-sector collaboration with community partners and the broader health system.  

Growing up on a fish hatchery compound with 5 other families (when it was fully occupied), Dr. Davis understands well what it meant to come from a rural community. She and her family were about 30 minutes from a rural community of 1,000 in the Gorge, on the Washington side. From an early age, she was interested in being a health care professional but was also averse to taking on debt.  

After college she became really interested in positive psychology and read multiple books written by social psychologists (see Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz). She knew that she could get a master’s paid for by enrolling in some Ph.D. programs (aka non-terminal master’s programs), so she applied to the University of Vermont (UVM) and matriculated in 2004. At UVM she quickly realized that she wanted to be engaged in applied, community-based research rather than research done in labs or with college students. Through a series of fortuitous connections, in 2007 she secured a position as a Oregon Rural Practice-based Research Network (ORPRN) regional practice enhancement and research coordinator (or practice facilitator) in La Grande, Oregon while completing her Ph.D./dissertation research at a distance. In this role she set a strong foundation and built skills in clinic and community engaged research which have made a difference in her career.  

At this point in her career, Dr. Davis wears several hats that include roles as an organizational leader for rural serving programs at OHSU and as a lead and partner in several research studies. As a leader, she is the director for ORPRN and for the Oregon Clinical & Translational Research Institute Community Research Hub (OCTRI) Community Program. Both programs support infrastructure to identify and understand the needs and interests of local community and clinic partners and then to address these needs through collaborative research, education, or health policy. 

In relation to research, she is proud to be co-leading work out of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Office of the Director through the CARE for Health^TM initiative. This award supports the “Primary Care Rural and Frontier Clinical Trials Innovation Center (PRaCTICe)” and is a partnership between ORPRN, the University of Washington Practice Based-research Network (called WPRN – which serves Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho (WWAMI) states) and our two institutional Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs). PRaCTICe (and the broader CARE for Health^TM Initiative) is designed to engage rural communities in clinical studies to address common and chronic clinical conditions that are important to primary care clinicians and patients using a “whole person health” approach. 

Dr. Davis is also proud of her team’s work at ORPRN and OCTRI Community through their Extension for Community Health Outcomes (ECHO) programming offered via the Oregon ECHO Network (OEN), multiple partnerships with the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) on various technical assistance contracts, and support for community engaged research provided by regional staff located throughout the state. In the past year, these teams have supported over 82 research studies and 35 ECHO programs in partnership with 73 OHSU faculty collaborators. Activities engaged all 16 Oregon Coordinated Care Organizations (CCOs), 115 community-based organizations, 129 primary care clinics, 1441 unique learners and 8,414 study participants.  

You can read more about these collaborations in the 2024-2025 ORPRN annual report!  

You can request support for community engagement or community engaged research projects via OHSU Community Outreach Research and Engagement!  

Hopes for the future  

When discussing where she would like the field to go in 5-10 years, Dr. Davis said she would like to see reforms that truly value the contribution that primary care and public health make to individual and population health. This starts with adequately resourcing these front-line professionals, providing time for individual and team-based encounters, and recognizing the skills of generalists. She is eager to see partnered research that’s testing ways to enable delivery of whole person/person-centered care and to focus on upstream drivers of health (e.g., social, economic, environmental factors) and evolving models of research that better align with the pace of life and how health care is delivered. 

Planting the seeds for future researchers 

Dr. Davis is passionate about making pathways like hers well known. She enjoys talking more with anyone who is interested in PhD or medical training and sharing her experience and her “what I know now.” If you are wondering what to do with your life as a new graduate or seasoned professional, she highly recommends looking at the work by Burnett & Evans from the Stanford Life Design Lab, including this 3-minute video. They emphasize using design thinking for career decisions and focusing on making the next best decision rather than anticipating you can know where you will end up in 10 to 20 to 30 years from now.  

“No matter where you are in your career (e.g., early, mid, late), I think relationships and your colleagues matter immensely to your success. Invest time in these collaborations and find ways to work with people who bring you joy. It can be a long haul, and the rate of rejection is high, but you do not need to bear it alone.” Thank you, Dr. Davis, for sharing your research story with us!