Professional background

Professor Davis is a Wellcome Trust intermediate clinical fellow and honorary consultant in geriatric medicine. He qualified from the University of Edinburgh in 2003 and undertook postgraduate training in Oxford and London. His PhD was obtained from the University of Cambridge.

At UCLH, he is interested in improving the care of older people with cognitive impairment in the hospital setting, with specific expertise in the diagnosis and management of delirium.

Research interests

Professor Davis's primary interest is the relationship between delirium and/or acute illness and trajectories of cognitive decline in large population-representative studies. He seeks to understand these relationships in their broadest sense, from the pathophysiological underpinnings through to the implications for health care policy.

Prof Davis is the PI of the Delirium and Population Health Informatics Cohort (DELPHIC) study, which tracks cognition before, during and after acute illness in older Camden residents.

His academic appointment is as a principal clinical researcher at the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL.

Publications

  • Davis DH, Muniz-Terrera G, Keage HA, Stephan BC, Fleming J, Ince PG, Matthews FE, Cunningham C, Ely EW, MacLullich AM, Brayne C; Epidemiological Clinicopathological Studies in Europe (EClipSE) Collaborative Members. Association of Delirium With Cognitive Decline in Late Life: A Neuropathologic Study of 3 Population-Based Cohort Studies. JAMA Psychiatry (2017) 74:244-251.
  • Davis DHJ, Skelly DT, Murray C, Hennessy E, Bowen J, Norton S, Brayne C, Rahkonen T, Sulkava R, Sanderson DJ, Rawlins JN, Bannerman DM, MacLullich AMJ, Cunningham C. Worsening cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative pathology progressively increase risk for delirium. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry (2015) 23:403-415.
  • Davis DH, Muniz Terrera G, Keage H, Rahkonen T, Oinas M, Matthews FE, Cunningham C, Polvikoski T, Sulkava R, MacLullich AM, Brayne C. Delirium is a strong risk factor for dementia in the oldest-old: a population-based cohort study. Brain. (2012)135:2809-16.