AUSTIN, Texas—Dr. King Davis, former commissioner of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services for the Commonwealth of Virginia, has been named the new executive director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at The University of Texas at Austin.
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Dr. King Davis
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Davis is the Robert Lee Sutherland Chair in Mental Health and Social Policy in the university’s School of Social Work. His research and teaching at the university have focused on public mental health policy, the provision of culturally competent mental health services, health care for the mentally ill and disparities in rates of illness and services for consumers of color.
Davis becomes the fourth executive director in the history of the 63-year old foundation, which awards grants and manages programs to improve mental health research and services in Texas. His appointment follows the retirement in December of Dr. Charles Bonjean, who had directed the Hogg Foundation since 1993. Davis also will hold the Hogg Professorship in Mental Health Policy in the School of Social Work.
“We are fortunate to have Dr. Davis’ experience and reputation at the Hogg Foundation,” said Dr. James L. Hill, vice president for community and school relations at The University of Texas at Austin. “His talent and leadership certainly will enrich the foundation’s efforts to improve mental health services in Texas.”
Davis’ previous academic experience has included service as the William and Camille Cosby Chair in Social Work at Howard University and the Libra Chair in Public Policy at the University of Maine, School of Business. Davis also has held the John Galt Chair in Public Mental Health at the University of Virginia’s Department of Psychiatry. He has held academic appointments at Washington University in St. Louis, Virginia Commonwealth University, Eastern Virginia Medical School and Norfolk State University. Davis served on the Surgeon General’s Taskforce on Mental Health and is a consultant to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. He is a member of numerous national boards and commissions in mental health.
Davis managed the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services from 1990-1995. He previously served as its director of community mental health services. He was appointed commissioner by Virginia Govenor L. Douglas Wilder. He also worked four years as chief of clinical and inpatient social work services at Walson Army Hospital in New Jersey. Davis earned his doctor’s degree from Brandeis University’s Florence G. Heller School for Social Policy and Management. He earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in social work from the California State University in Fresno.
For more information contact: Jeff Patterson, Hogg Foundation, 512-471-5041, or Robert D. Meckel, Office of Public Affairs, 512-475-7847.
