May 30, 2019

Dr. Elizabeth Mayer-Davis

Dr. Elizabeth Mayer-Davis

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) will present the 2019 Kelly West Award for Outstanding Achievement in Epidemiology to Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, PhD, chair of the Department of Nutrition at the UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. The award recognizes significant contributions to the field of diabetes epidemiology.

Mayer-Davis will be recognized with the honor at the ADA’s 79th Scientific Sessions, taking place June 7-11 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. She will deliver the Kelly West Award Lecture, titled, “Improving Outcomes — Translating Epidemiology to Clinical Trials.”

Mayer-Davis is currently the Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Nutrition and Medicine at the Gillings School. With research focused on the epidemiology of diabetes in youth and young adults, her body of work is described in more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. Mayer-Davis also has conducted trials in Type 2 diabetes prevention and Type 1 diabetes treatment, and she has performed observational studies of diabetes complications and the role of nutrition. Much of her work has focused on translating research to better understand clinical and public health implications.

“Congratulations, Dr. Mayer-Davis, and thank you for your outstanding contributions to the important topic of diabetes research as it pertains to our youth,” said the ADA’s 2019 President of Health Care and Education, Gretchen Youssef, MS, RD, CDE. “Your work has been critical to the advancement and dissemination of our understanding of diabetes epidemiology.”

Today, Mayer-Davis is active in the scientific advisory and diabetes advocacy communities. She served as the ADA’s president of health care and education from 2011 to 2013, and most recently, was appointed to the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee by the United States Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. Previously, she was appointed by President Obama to serve on the Advisory Group of Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health from 2011 to 2017.


Contact the Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@listserv.unc.edu.

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