Lolita McDavid, MD, MPA

About

Lolita M. McDavid, MD, MPA is Medical Director of Child Advocacy and Protection at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, a pediatric affiliate of Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine. She is responsible for community outreach and programming, as well as coordinating medical services for the hospital’s Child Protection Unit, which serves at-risk children and families in Northeast Ohio. Dr. McDavid is a Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She chaired the first panel for the Ohio Commission on Minority Health (OCMH): “Achieving Equity and Eliminating Infant Mortality Health Disparities in Racial and Ethnic Populations: From Data to Action.”

From 1991 to 1995, Dr. McDavid directed the Greater Cleveland Project of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF). The project, which focused on the improvement and extension of health, anti-poverty, preschool and child support programs for local youngsters, was the first county-based advocacy effort in the U.S. for the national Children’s Defense Fund.

Prior to her work with CDF, Dr. McDavid was Head of General Pediatrics at MetroHealth Medical Center (MHMC), the largest public hospital in Ohio. At MHMC, she directed the pediatric clinics and the newborn nursery and coordinated the pediatric emergency room.

Education has been a constant in Dr. McDavid’s life. Born to educators, she grew up in Wilberforce, Ohio, and earned an undergraduate degree at Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio. She received a master’s degree in public administration and urban development from the State University of New York and a medical degree from Case Western Reserve University.

After completing a pediatric residency at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Dr. McDavid was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and a Bush Fellow in child development and social policy, both at Yale University.

An activist on both the community and national levels, Dr. McDavid is a former trustee of Miami University of Ohio – where she was the founding chair of the Committee on Academic Affairs – the Ohio Children’s Trust Fund and the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has served on three advisory boards of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and on various committees of the American Academy of Pediatrics, including the Committee on Federal Government Affairs. She has also chaired the Public Policy and Advocacy Committee of the Academic Pediatric Association. Among her numerous awards, Dr. McDavid has been honored by the Junior League of Cleveland, the YWCA of Cleveland, Providence House, Cleveland Magazine, Northern Ohio Live, and Crain’s Cleveland Business. She is also a recipient of the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation. Dr. McDavid is a frequent commentator on local and national media sites.