Leading Clinician-Scientist Joins UAMS Myeloma Institute
| LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has named internationally recognized clinician and researcher Faith Davies, M.D., a professor of medicine and the director of the Phase I Clinical Trials Program for both the Myeloma Institute and the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
Davies will develop a program focused on innovative targeted molecular therapeutics. She is recognized internationally for her interest in novel therapeutics and her expertise in the treatment of relapsed refractory disease.
“We welcome Dr. Faith Davies as a clinical physician, researcher and faculty member,” said UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D. “The different facets of her work will ultimately touch on every aspect of the mission at UAMS.”
Davies has focused for nearly two decades on the biology and treatment of multiple myeloma. “I am very excited and grateful to be part of an institution that recognizes and emphasizes a personalized approach to medicine as keenly as I do, particularly in treating a disease as individually unique as myeloma,” she said.
Faith Davies, M.D.
Davies came to UAMS from the Institute of Cancer Research in London where she was a faculty member and the Royal Marsden Hospital in London where she was a consultant hematologist. She earned her medical degree at the University of Wales College of Medicine. She completed her general medical training in Cardiff and Birmingham and her hematology specialty training in Leeds and London.
Throughout her extensive career in the U.K., as well as during a travelling fellowship at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, her research has focused on potential new drugs and new genetic technologies and their applications to myeloma. Her laboratory-based studies investigated identification of genetic and biological prognostic markers of disease outcome and recognized that a number of the markers could be potential therapeutic targets.
At the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital, Davies’ laboratory work was aimed at identifying biologically based therapeutic targets in myeloma that are amenable to small molecule interventions and translating those laboratory findings into the clinical arena with a focus on individualized treatment. She initiated a drug discovery program to identify molecules for clinical investigation.
As scientific coordinator of two very large U.K. myeloma studies, Davies played an active role in translational research involving 4,000 newly diagnosed patients. Analysis of data collected led to the ability to sub-group myeloma, which in turn supported a personalized medicine approach. In a clinical capacity, Davies developed a dedicated hematology/oncology clinical trial unit for Phase I, II and III clinical trials in myeloma, and managed the autologous and allogeneic transplant program.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,485 students, 915 medical residents and fellows, and seven dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 11,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###