Lisa A. Davis is the Director of the Health Collaboration Branch at the South Carolina Department of Public Health Ms. Davis is responsible for the Bureaus of Emergency Preparedness and Response, Public Health Laboratory, Professional Practice (for the agency’s more than 300 nurses), and Vital Records. With almost three decades in state government and four as a registered nurse, Ms. Davis has successfully influenced public health policy at the local and state levels as a nurse executive who managed annual program budgets of more than $317 million, 1500 staff, and approved health systems mergers and acquisitions. She allocated over $4.4 million to develop innovative programs that support the next generation of nurses and convened local and regional minority nursing collaboratives to improve health equity and outcomes. Now in its 10th year, the New England Minority Nurse Leadership Conference has been attended by over 1,300 nationwide, and the collaborative includes eight chapters of the National Black Nurses Association, Cape Verdean Nurses Association, National Association of Hispanic Nurses, and National Association of Nigerian Nurses in North America. Ms. Davis received her BSN from the University of Connecticut School of Nursing, MPH from Columbia Southern University, and MBA from the Hartford Graduate Center.