Impact Amplified: Eduardo Davila, PhD, on Gratitude and Paying it Forward

Eduardo Davila, PhD, is a powerhouse in the field of immunology and solid tumor immunotherapies. Recruited in 2018 to the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, Dr. Davila quickly joined the leadership team at the CU Cancer Center, in charge of educational programs. He is leading our efforts in understanding the role of the immune system in the development and progression of cancer.

Eduardo Davila, PhD

Dr. Davila was drawn to CU Anschutz by the strong immunology program as well as the exceptional clinical research team, which he notes has “the most robust phase I capabilities in the nation,” offering options to people with advanced cancer when conventional treatments no longer work. The CU School of Medicine was able to recruit him with a generous gift from The Patten-Davis Foundation that endowed the Amy Davis Chair of Basic Human Immunology. Dr. Davila, who holds the chair, stresses that philanthropic funding played a critical role in his decision to join CU Anchutz.

With private support, Dr. Davila notes, faculty are able to protect some of their time, devoting themselves to pursuing new ideas that will move medicine forward. For him, that time is spent mentoring students and working alongside the current and future generations of scientists to discover the next line of immunotherapies. Dr. Davila believes his role is to help others, whether as a mentor or as an immunologist — and, upon learning of his story, it is apparent how he has turned immense gratitude into action.

Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, to parents from central Mexico, Dr. Davila and his now-wife welcomed their first child the summer after graduating from high school, in an environment filled with poverty, gang violence and drug abuse. Yet, Dr. Davila understood that higher education was important and enrolled in college despite being told by counselors that his future was not likely to include higher education. Unfortunately, Dr. Davila found that pursuing an education was too much for him at this time. “I failed dismally in trying to have a full-time job, be a young father and attend college full-time. I failed at all three of those assets at the same time.”

Top left: Antontio Lara, PhD, a former mentor of Davila’s; Bottom right: A young Dr. Davila and his family

Dr. Davila took a year off and accepted a job as a cashier at a liquor store in order to support his young family. “It was so intellectually unchallenging that I felt like part of my soul was missing because I did not have the academic stimulation I needed. That’s when I decided to leave El Paso and try school again.”

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 PostBaccalaureate 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.”

Eduardo Davila, PhD

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 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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