Ask Donnis Davis — he’s set to graduate in May from the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV — how he got to this time and place and he serves up one of the guiding principles of his life: “There is this saying, ‘Hard work beats talent when talent refuses to work hard.’ However, I thoroughly believe that statement is incorrect. I believe hard work always beats talent, you just have to work harder than talent.”
Raised by an Air Force military officer and a stay-at-home father – his mother is now a lieutenant colonel at Nellis Air Force Base – Davis said his parents “largely influenced my core principles. I had a perfect example of someone working hard right in front of me — my mother. Watching her while growing up, I was able to witness her spend hours either at her job or in the books, studying to make a better life for her family. I have carried these principles of hard work throughout all my endeavors in life.”
His mother, a nurse practitioner, is the flight commander of the Nellis Internal Medicine Clinic, and Davis — the former vice president of the Student National Medical Association — now plans on becoming an emergency medicine physician. His love for science, he said, came in large part from his parents only allowing him to watch a steady diet of the Discovery, Science, History, and National Geographic TV channels during a period of major exploration in this life. “I loved what you could do with science,” he said.
He was born in Kinston, North Carolina, and moved six times during his K-12 years, including to Japan, and Las Vegas twice, as his mother was transferred to different duty stations.
“As a child, it was extremely frustrating to have to pack my bags and leave all my closest friends to move to a brand-new environment, having to recreate myself each time. However, now being older, I view those changes I went through entirely differently. I have friends across the United States and across the world. Almost every location I travel to, I at least know someone that lives there. Moving so much allowed me to become very comfortable with myself and helped mold me into the person I am today,” he said.
“My unique childhood has given me the ability to work extremely well with people from diverse ethnic and social backgrounds,” Davis said. “This is a skill I feel is important to provide care effectively to those in need, especially the disadvantaged communities that emergency medicine primarily serves.”
Seeing himself
After one of his moves to Las Vegas, Davis attended Durango High School, playing basketball there his sophomore and junior years. He graduated from high school in New Mexico, where his mother was then stationed, before doing his undergraduate work in biology at the University of New Mexico. “It wasn’t until halfway through college that I actually met my first black doctor," he noted. "Up until that point, it often felt like I was on this journey without knowing what the end could even look like for me. Finally seeing someone that looked like me in a position that I wanted to be in, was an incredibly powerful moment on which I often reflect. It was also inspiring, motivating, and even comforting. This is one of the many reasons why representation matters in our field, to show that truly anyone can become whatever it is they want to be in life.”
It was at the University of New Mexico when he shadowed a pain doctor that he began to think seriously about a career in medicine. “Though I witnessed many patient encounters before, this particular one made a profound impression. An elderly woman came into the examination room in a wheelchair. She grimaced as she spoke about her pain. Soon after, the physician administered several medicines. Suddenly, the woman jumped to her feet and immediately started dancing with happiness. One moment she was unable to stand on her own and the next she was trying to dance with everyone. I wanted to bring this same kind of relief to others.”
The day after his 21st birthday Davis began to experience medicine as a patient. He needed lung surgery. “When I received this news, I found myself in complete shock. Why was this happening to me?
“What happened next changed everything for me. Sensing my consternation, the emergency medicine physician made every effort to ease my anxiety. He attended to my comfort, communicated expectations, and cared for me throughout the process. His devotion to my case and his concern for my personal and emotional well-being meant the world to me. That encounter not only changed my perspective on the field of medicine, but it also shaped the course of my life to come.”
Choosing a specialty
During his emergency medicine rotation at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, Davis, free of any medical problems, firmly decided to make a career of the specialty. “A 20-year-old entered the emergency department with a recurrent pneumothorax, the same problem I had that required surgery. He was scared, vulnerable, and in disbelief. At that moment I realized I had the opportunity to repay the debt I owed from five years prior. I was given the opportunity to be as comforting and thorough as the physician that had treated me. Being an emergency medicine physician, you are the first point of contact for people that may very well be experiencing the worst day of their life. I have a great deal of respect for those who work in that environment, and without any doubt, it is what I want to do with my life.”
Davis, an Engelstad Scholar who received a full-tuition scholarship for all four years of medical school, mentors undergraduate minority students who are thinking about becoming physicians. He said his time in medical school has been fulfilling not only because of what he’s learning in the classroom and during specialty rotations, but also because of the people he’s met. “I've loved the support of the people of Las Vegas and my classmates.” In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, he said he was part of a “white coats for black lives'' Student National Medical Association event on the medical school campus that saw more than 200 Southern Nevada medical professionals of all races gathering together to protest injustice.
“A lot of African Americans felt very lonely at that time,” Davis said. “Seeing the Las Vegas medical community show their support meant a great deal.”
