Philippa E.S. Davis, M.D., laughs when a family friend suggests it won’t be long before her dad, well-known attorney and Member of Parliament for Cat Island Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, is introduced as the father of the famed Dr. Philippa Davis.
“Never,” chuckles the MP’s daughter, in Nassau for a short visit recently. A Lyford Cay Foundation recipient, Dr. Davis completed her undergraduate degree at McGill University in Canada (with distinction), her medical degree at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC (earning membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society), her internship in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, her residency in Anesthesiology at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston and her fellowship in Critical Care Medicine at Stanford Hospital and Clinics in California.
After 13 years of college and med school, she was certified in Critical Care Medicine in October and at the age of 31 is licensed to practise in California, Massachusetts and Virginia –and, by the way, had time along the way to volunteer in Mwanza, Tanzania.
“I would not have made it this far without the loving support and sacrifices of my family and friends, especially my parents and grandparents,” said Dr. Davis, now affiliated with Inova Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia, a level one trauma centre.
The long journey, she said, also taught her that “the things most worthwhile are not easy to come by.”
“The one thing she had to give up,” says mom, Janice Davis, who has been with the Government of The Bahamas for 30 years, “is sports.” A star athlete, Davis represented The Bahamas at the Caribbean Island Swimming Championships in Curacao at the age of 12.
It was a trade-off Davis was willing to make.
“I am humbled and blessed that God has given me the gifts to care for patients in their most vulnerable times of need,” says Dr. Davis, a member of the American Society of Anesthesiology and the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
After lengthy training, Davis wants to gain more experience in high volume and acuity level one trauma before returning to The Bahamas to practise.
