What does it take to realize health equity in population health through the work of local public health entities with Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo-Davis

In this episode with Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo-Davis, the following has been discussed:

• Exploring Health Equity and Public Health Work in St. Louis
• How can we define health equity, especially when it comes to public health work?
• Could you share some of the strengths and challenges that the City of St. Louis Department of Health is currently facing?
• What have been the most rewarding and challenging aspects of your role?
• You've managed to establish some impressive partnerships and alliances for St. Louis, which have helped improve public health services. Can you tell us more about these partnerships and how you were able to create them?
• What does public health need from academia, and what kind of support do you require from implementation research?
• In terms of dissemination and implementation (D&I) research, how do equity gaps affect your work, the community's service, and the communities you collaborate with?
• Have there been any community engagement or public health intervention strategies that you have found particularly helpful during your tenure? Is there anything that certain bureaus have implemented that has been successful?
• Lastly, what kind of legacy for health equity do you hope to achieve through your leadership at the City of St. Louis?

Guest Bio:

Dr. Matifadza Hlatshwayo Davis, MD, MPH, is the Director of Health

for the City of St. Louis. Dr. Hlatshwayo Davis received her medical

degree from Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and a

Master’s in Public Health Degree from Case Western Reserve

University. She completed her internal medicine residency at

University Hospitals Case Medical Center. She went on to complete

her Infectious Diseases fellowship at the Washington University

School of Medicine (WUSM), also completing a one-year dedicated

non-ACGME HIV fellowship and a two-year dedicated Sexually

Transmitted Infections (STI) fellowship.

She was a Clinical Instructor, Associate Program Director of the

Division of Infectious Diseases fellowship program and in the

leadership of the Office of Inclusion and Diversity at the

Washington University School of Medicine. She was also an Infectious Diseases physician at the John

Cochran VA Medical Center where she was the Lead HIV Clinician, Graduate Medical Education

Coordinator, and Outpatient Parenteral Antibiotic Therapy, supervisor.

Her passion for community engagement, health equity, and patients living with HIV (PLWH),

culminated in her becoming the co-chair of the Fast Track Cities initiative in St. Louis, and later

appointed to the City of St. Louis Board of Health. Dr. Hlatshwayo Davis is now a national and

international medical contributor on COVID-19 with a particular focus on marginalized populations and

has been featured in outlets such as CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, MSNBC, and Newsweek, among others. She

is also an Associate Editor for Disparities and Competent Care for the Infectious Diseases Society of

America (IDSA).