Biography

Sandra Davis, PhD, DPM, ACNP-BC, FAANP, is a leading expert in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in both academia and public health. She is deputy director for the National League for Nursing (NLN)/Walden University College of Nursing Institute for Social Determinants of Health and Social Change. Prior to joining the NLN, Dr. Davis was an associate professor and inaugural associate dean for DEI at the George Washington University School of Nursing. Throughout her career, Dr. Davis has served in academic leadership, administrative, and educator roles and in clinical practice. Her scholarship focuses on health inequities, social and structural determinants of health, structural competency, and antiracism. Her co-authored hallmark book, Fast Facts for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Nursing: Building Competencies for an Antiracism Practice, won a 2022 American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award. Dr. Davis is on the editorial board for Nursing Education Perspectives and is a guest editor for the Sept./Oct. 2023 special issue on DEI.  

Through her leadership, Dr. Davis is making an impact on local, national, and international levels. Globally, she consulted with Riverside College in Bacolod, Philippines, to discuss DEI with faculty and students. Nationally, she serves on numerous committees to advance best practices for DEI, and she is directing the landmark NLN/Walden Interprofessional Leadership Academy to cultivate leaders for social change and to enhance the integration of social and structural determinants of health in nursing and the health professions curricula and programs. Locally, she conducted the Heart Healthy Participatory Action Research Study for middle school students in Washington, D.C., so their voices are heard within their communities through photography, critical analysis, and writing policy briefs, which were exhibited at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Dr. Davis was awarded the Nurse Practitioner Healthcare Foundation’s Heart Health Across the Lifespan award that was funded by Astellas to conduct this research project.

Dr. Davis is a proud Temple graduate, where she earned a BS in nursing as well as DPM from the School of Podiatric Medicine. She also earned a PhD from Drexel University, an MS in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA from Wellesley College.