ST. LOUIS — Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis has been featured on national and international news outlets, sharing her expertise on handling COVID-19 with a focus on marginalized populations.
She's now the city's new health director, making history as the first Black female physician to ever do it.
Hlatshwayo Davis, an immigrant from Zimbabwe with a passion for infectious disease research, is confident in her abilities to take on the new role.
"I came to the U.S. to explore my undergraduate education and medical school, always knowing I wanted to be in infectious diseases because I saw how HIV impacted my country," Dr. Hlatshwayo Davis said.
She came to St. Louis six years ago to do an infectious disease fellowship at Washington University. Now, she's making history.
"My young daughters Aneni and Naniso got to see their mother being sworn in as the first Black female physician director of health for the city, that is so powerful," Hlatshwayo Davis said.
In the midst of the pandemic, she's taking the lead on the city's health with goals to improve employee retention.
"Can we find innovative ways to make sure that staff knows that they're valued, while we work on more systemic issues that will help people make sure that they're paid equitably and at levels that they can support themselves and their family," she said.
Dr. Hlatshwayo Davis is focused on educating the public on vaccines and providing access to make sure anyone who wants one can get it.
"Now, we have the FDA considering an emergency use authorization for children aged 5 and above that will be my immediate goal and target," Hlatshwayo Davis said.
As masking remains a hot topic, she plans to keep the city's mandate in place.
"My job and my level of expertise is to be able to critically look at that data on an ongoing basis so that if you have questions I can tell you why we still need that masking mandate, and until I believe that the data does not support it, we will be continuing with that masking mandate," Hlatshwayo Davis said.
Dr. Hlatshwayo Davis encourages the public to take the STL City community survey on the Department of Health website.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story stated Dr. Hlatshwayo Davis is the first female health director for the city. The story has been corrected to state she's the first female physician to serve as health director.