Dr. Davila moved with his wife and two children to New Mexico and enrolled at New Mexico State University. There he met Glen Kuhn, MD, and Antonio Lara, PhD, both professors of chemistry and biochemistry. These relationships were pivotal. “They saw something in me that I did not yet see in myself,” said Dr. Davila. Lara offered Dr. Davila an opportunity to work in his lab. The ability to do what he loved changed Dr. Davila’s perspective and he began to imagine new possibilities. He graduated with a dual degree in chemistry and biochemistry, and qualified to participate in Maximizing Access to Research Careers, an NIH-funded program that offers financial support to foster generations of scientists from underrepresented minority groups. With this support, Dr. Davila was able to participate in research collaborations and present at national conferences. At one conference, he met Rick McGee, PhD, who ran the Patient Oriented Research Program at the Mayo Clinic. Impressed by Dr. Davila’s work, McGee recruited him to the program, and Dr. Davila and his family moved to Rochester, Minnesota, where he studied for eight years. Dr. Davila and his family then moved to New Orleans where he held his first faculty position at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. The support Dr. Davila received up to this point in his career built within him an immense sense of gratitude that would continue to grow each time he received a new opportunity. He understood how close he had been to not overcoming the challenges he had faced, and this ignited in him a dedication to mentoring those passionate about the sciences, who may be overlooked due to their circumstances or background. After his experience at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Dr. Davila was recruited to the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where he became the founder and director of the NIH-funded Science Training for Advancing Research Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (STAR-PREP). He said, “I finally felt like I was able to start giving back to the community that I came from.” The STAR-PREP program helps individuals from underrepresented backgrounds who are interested in pursuing an MD/PhD. The program strengthens the research skills and academic competitiveness of participants to help meet a critical need for diverse investigators in basic and translational research. The program is
Top left: Antontio Lara, PhD, a former mentor of Davila’s Bottom right: A young Dr. Davila and his family
intended to support those with disadvantages, who work alongside a graduate research lab technician to learn how to conduct research in a professional lab setting. While CU Anschutz didn’t have a PREP program at the time Dr. Davila was recruited, it was a clear need. “A huge factor in my decision to join CU was the opportunity to bring light to underrepresentation and mentor students from the surrounding area,” he said. Dr. Davila submitted a grant to build a PREP program here. “It brings me joy knowing that I have experienced enough successes and failures in my life that I can expedite someone’s career or someone’s experiments by offering them insights and wisdom,” he said. Dr. Davila’s gratitude for the opportunities he has received and the generosity of those who have supported his work is what fuels his inquisitive nature. “What keeps me going is the ability to advance what was once a few years ago an idea in my head, and bringing that to a clinical setting — it’s incredibly rewarding. At the end of the day, that is what I’m drawn to — impacting someone’s life whether it’s as a mentor, prolonging their life, or reducing their suffering from cancer. Knowing that we can do good in this world is my ultimate drive.”
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