Posted 12/6/2007

Mayer-Davis is leaving the Arnold School

Mayer-Davis

Dr. Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, a nationally recognized diabetes and nutrition researcher with the Arnold School, has accepted a faculty appointment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"It’s time for me to try new opportunities," said Mayer-Davis, who came to USC some ten-and-a-half years ago.

Currently the associate chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and director of the Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, Mayer-Davis said UNC offered her a position as a tenured professor in the school’s highly regarded Department of Nutrition. The appointment is effective Feb. 1, 2008.

"They were looking for someone to help develop collaborations around areas such as nutrition and diabetes," she said.

Mayer-Davis said a highlight of her tenure at USC was the creation of the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study Group, a national research program begun in 2000 to determine the prevalence and incidence of diabetes among U.S. youth.

Mayer-Davis chairs the national study and is the principal investigator for the SEARCH site in South Carolina. The study will continue after she relocates to UNC.

Liese

Another highlight was heading the Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities. Dr. Angela Liese, a co-researcher in the SEARCH study, was named interim director effective Jan. 1, 2008.

"I will truly miss the day-to-day interactions with the fabulous staff of SEARCH and of the Nutrition Center over at our Middleburg offices, and I’m grateful for the opportunities for ongoing collaborations in the years to come" said Mayer-Davis.

"A consummate academician, Dr. Mayer-Davis has excelled in every aspect of academic life," said Dr. John Vena, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

"We are thankful for her leadership and tremendous contributions to the Carolina community. Her loss from our fulltime faculty ranks is regrettable but we are happy that she will maintain strong research ties to USC and adjunct professor status. I do understand her motivation for pursuing the opportunities in the renowned Nutrition Department at UNC, wish her the very best and look forward to continued collaborations," Vena said.

Mayer-Davis graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in dietetics. In 1986, she earned her master’s in public health at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She received her doctorate in epidemiology from the University of California-Berkeley in 1992.

Before coming to USC, she was on the faculty at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University.

"Our growing Arnold School family will be one member short too soon with the departure of Beth Mayer-Davis to North Carolina. Beth has had a remarkable impact in the school over the past decade. She was instrumental in building our superb Nutrition Center, attracting and mentoring nationally renowned junior faculty, and selflessly helping staff and colleagues in the Nutrition Center and the school," said Arnold School Interim Dean Dr. Tom Chandler.

"Her new opportunities at UNC Chapel Hill are quite remarkable, and I wish her the very best as she takes on a very interesting set of new professional challenges. I am hopeful we will continue to see Beth frequently because she is keeping some major research activities intact with her colleagues here at USC," he said.