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Sharon K. Davis

Sharon K. Davis is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sharon K. Davis rather than just read about it. In short: Sharon K. Davis is an American social epidemiologist.

Sharon K. Davis — main illustration
Sharon K. Davis — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Sharon K. Davis belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Sharon K. Davis to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Sharon K. Davis from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sharon K. Davis is an American social epidemiologist. She was a senior scientist and head of the Social Epidemiology Research Unit at the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Education Davis completed a B.A. from University of Arkansas in 1980. She earned a M.Ed. from Northeastern University in 1983. In 1987, she completed a M.P.A. from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She went on to earn a Ph.D. from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University in 1991. Davis' dissertation was titled Assessing the effect of Medicare's Prospective Payment System on access to intensive-care treatment among the very-old: A pre/post examination of intensive-care admission patterns. Stuart Altman was her doctoral advisor.

Career Davis was a long-time senior scientist in the Metabolic, Cardiovascular and Inflammatory Disease Genomics Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). She was the head of the Social Epidemiology Research Unit. As of 2024 she was no longer employed at NIH.

Research Davis' research has focused on the effects of social determinants on cardiovascular disease mortality and morbidity among disproportionately affected sub-populations. Her lab is now engaged in an emerging field of human social genomics. This research identifies the types of genes that are subject to social-environmental regulations, the neural and molecular mechanisms that mediate the effects of social processes on gene expression, and the genetic polymorphisms that moderate individual differences in genomic sensitivity to social context.

Davis' lab is also assessing the association of ancestry on sub-clinical cardiovascular risk factors among African-Americans and skin color as a phenotype associated with genetic ancestry and cardiovascular outcomes. The group is measuring differential telomere length correlated to cardiovascular outcomes and social determinants on telomere length among African-Americans. Davis' team, along with other investigators in the Cardiovascular Section, have implemented a research protocol with the objective of developing a community-based cohort and novel genomic science resource for defining the biological significance of ancestry-related genomic variation in African-Americans related to cardiovascular disease. The study is designed to test the hypothesis that race-ancestry differences in the burden of cardiovascular disease in African-Americans reflects the influence of a unique interplay between the distinct genomic variations characteristic of African-Americans and the "exposome" of social determinants and environmental factors that influence the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease.

Personal life Davis was married and had 2 children during the completion of her dissertation in 1991.

References

Illustrations

Sharon K. Davis illustration
Sharon K. Davis: Sharon K. Davis
Sharon K. Davis

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sharon K. Davis

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sharon K. Davis claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sharon K. Davis before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sharon K. Davis ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sharon K. Davis

In research
Sharon K. Davis appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Sharon K. Davis in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Sharon K. Davis is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 20th-century American social scientists, 20th-century American women scientists, 21st-century African-American academics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Sharon K. Davis outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study Sharon K. Davis in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Sharon K. Davis means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Sharon K. Davis out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sharon K. Davis in simple terms?

Sharon K. Davis is an American social epidemiologist.

Why does Sharon K. Davis matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sharon K. Davis?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sharon K. Davis.

Tags

  • 20th-century American social scientists
  • 20th-century American women scientists
  • 21st-century African-American academics
  • 21st-century African-American scientists
  • 21st-century American academics
  • 21st-century American scientists
  • 21st-century American women academics
  • 21st-century American women scientists
  • American epidemiologists
  • American women epidemiologists
  • Harvard Kennedy School alumni
  • Heller School for Social Policy and Management alumni

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