UAMS Community Liaison Anna Huff Davis Elected to National CHW Board
| FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) community liaison Anna Huff Davis will continue to be a voice for health advancement in Arkansas after being elected to serve on the National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW) Board of Directors.
Huff Davis joined UAMS in 2001 and was one of the state’s first certified Community Health Workers (CHWs). She is also the chairperson of the Arkansas Community Health Worker Association (ARCHWA), chairs the Center on Childhood Obesity Prevention Community Advisory Board, and co- chairs the UAMS Translational Research Institute Community Advisory Board. She has held multiple roles at UAMS, advancing research and the roles of CHWs statewide.
“For years, Anna Huff Davis has served as an advocate and a champion for CHWs across Arkansas,” said Pearl McElfish, Ph.D., division director of the UAMS Office of Community Health & Research. “There is no one more deserving of a seat at the table for community health workers nationwide.”
Huff Davis was elected to the board at NACHW’s annual Unity Conference in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 3-5. The NACHW is a nonprofit organization founded in 2019 “with a mission to unify CHWs across geography, ethnicity, sector and experience to support communities to achieve health, equity, and social justice,” according to the group’s website.
“I’m going to do all I can to make sure that CHWs advance in a productive and meaningful way,” Huff Davis said. “I have been working for several years to make sure people understand who CHWs are and what their roles and responsibilities are. Now, I have an opportunity to do this at a national level and work with people from all over the country to develop policies that will be beneficial to CHWs and the community at large.”
Community Health Workers work within their communities to help people connect to and access health and social services. They help community members navigate their health care, apply for insurance or Medicaid, and access other vital resources.
To learn more about CHWs, visit nwa.uams.edu/chr/chw.
The UAMS Northwest Regional Campus includes 329 medical, pharmacy, nursing and health professions students, 66 medical and pharmacy residents, and two sports medicine fellows. The campus has nine clinics including a student-led clinic, orthopaedics and sports medicine, and physical, occupational and speech therapy. Faculty conduct research to reduce health disparities.
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 seven 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 and Institute for Digital 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 3,240 students, 913 medical residents and fellows, and five 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 www.uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.