Cornelia E. Davis MD, MPH One person can make a difference! Dr. Cornelia E. Davis, better known as Connie, is an award-winning author, speaker, and epidemiologist (disease detective). Connie was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, attended Gonzaga University in Spokane WA, and was one of the first African American women admitted to the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine (1968-72). After finishing a pediatric residency at USC LA County Teaching Hospital, she was hired by the World Health Organization (WHO) to work in the Smallpox Eradication Program in India (1975-77). This highly successful program changed her medical focus to international public health. India was certified free of smallpox in 1977 and the world declared smallpox eradicated in 1980.Dr. Davis earned her Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and worked in the elite Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS 79-81) at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Davis went on to work on childhood immunizations, malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, HIV/AIDS, and H1N1 Avian Influenza. While working for WHO in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia she was caught up in the fast-moving civil war and stayed behind as Acting Director of the WHO Epidemic Preparedness and Response (EPR) Centre when UN staff were evacuated to Nairobi. During these turbulent times, she came in contact with an orphaned three-month-old infant and adopted her daughter, Romene. For the next thirty years, she battled disease outbreaks in Africa and Asia for WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Along the way, Connie trekked to the Base Camp of Mt. Everest and marveled at the Standing Buddhas in Bamiyan Afghanistan before they were destroyed by the Taliban. An intrepid world traveler, she has worked in or traveled to 99 countries and territories. She has written two award-winning memoirs – Disrupter How Dr. Connie's Team Eradicated Smallpox in India, and Three Years in Ethiopia which you can obtain from Amazon. Her latest memoir, personal growth, and all-around thriller is entitled Risking Is Better Than Regretting, Live Without Regrets. By sharing stories and exploits from her life, Connie inspires you to take calculated risks. She reminds you that you must make the Choice, to take the Chance, if you want anything in life to Change!Connie still wants to track down the elusive Snow Leopard in Mongolia. She currently lives on the northern shores of Lake Chapala near Guadalajara, Mexico. Read more about this authorRead less about this author