Virginia Davis Floyd, MD, MPH
Vice President, PROMETRA International
Visiting Scholar in Traditional Knowledge – Spelman College
Executive Director, PROMETRA USA
Virginia Davis Floyd, “Ginger”
received her undergraduate education at Spelman College in Atlanta
and Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. She
received her MD degree from Howard University College of Medicine in
1976. She completed her residency training in internal medicine at
Emory/Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta in 1979 and received her
Masters of Public Health from Emory University in 1987. As a
National Health Service Corps (NHSC) scholarship recipient, she
established a rural based primary health care center which continues
to serve as the health care nucleus for a rural Georgia community.
In 2003 Ginger was appointed as a
Visiting Scholar in Traditional Knowledge at Spelman College, Atlanta,
Georgia where she serves as a faculty member in the Spelman
Independent Scholars (SIS) Program. She currently serves as the Vice
President of PROMETRA International and as the Executive Director
of PROMETRA USA, a non profit, US based organization dedicated to
research and educational activities within the area of traditional
knowledge systems, traditional medicine and global cross cultural
experiences.
From 1997 – 2002 Ginger served as
the Director of Human Development and Reproductive Health for the
Ford Foundation in New York City. She provided leadership for a
global team of program officers in grant making activities in the US
and overseas. The Foundation’s mission is to reduce poverty, promote
justice and assure human dignity by supporting efforts to build
strong individuals, families, communities and societies. Her
program’s funding approach utilized a focus on racial, ethnic,
gender and class inequalities to address issues of economic and
social marginalization, environmental sustainability and
reproductive health. The Ford Foundation is one of the world’s
largest independent private foundations with assets of approximately
9 billion dollars and an annual grant making of 500 million dollars.
Ginger served as the Director of the
Family Health Branch, Division of Public Health for the Georgia
Department of Human Resources from 1984- 1997. Programs under her
direction included Child and Adolescent Health, Women’s Health, WIC
& Nutrition Program, Immunization, Family Planning, Children with
Special Health Care Needs (Children’s Medical Services, Genetics and
Children 1st Early Intervention Program). Ginger directed a staff of
over 100 people and managed a budget of approximately $240 million
dollars. During this period she served as a principal investigator
for the World Health Organization Collaborating
Center in Perinatal Care and Health Services Research in Maternal &
Child Health.
In 1987, Ginger was appointed to
serve as Acting Director of the Southern Regional Project by Georgia
Governor Harris for the Southern Governors’ Association and
Southern Legislative Conference in Washington,
D.C. This project
coordinated infant mortality reduction activities throughout
nineteen states in the Southeast region. In 1991, she was selected
as one of 50 W.K. Kellogg Foundation National Leadership Fellows.
During her three year fellowship she obtained hands on experience
within, and an understanding of, indigenous cultures and
traditional medicine throughout West Africa, the Caribbean, North
and Central America. She continues working with indigenous African
and Native American people in the area of traditional medicine and
indigenous science through her work with the Association for the
Promotion of Traditional Medicine (PROMETRA).
Associated Publications
Heyman, DL; Floyd, VD: Estimation of
Incidence of Poliomyelitis by Survey Methods in Different Regions of
the United Republic of Cameroon,
Bulletin of the World Health Organization,
61 (3):501-507, 1983
Floyd, RL; Floyd VD: Neonatal
Intensive Care Admissions: Changing Profile in Georgia, 1974 - 1982,
Southern Medical Journal, Vol 82
(7): 880-884, July 1989
Floyd, VD; Onwuachi-Saunders,C:
Infant Mortality--The Public Health Approach,
Atlanta Medicine,
Vol 64 (3): 15-18, 1990
Floyd, VD: Too Soon, Too Small, Too
Sick: Black Infant Mortality [chapter], Contemporary Health
Issues: Perspectives in the Black Community, Jossey-Bass
Publishers 1992
Congressional Testimony to Senate
Committee on Appropriations (1991): “Women & Their Children:
Prevention for a Healthy Georgia”. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Health and the Environment (1989):”Federal Family
Planning Program”
Brantley, M; Rochat, R; Floyd, VD:
Population-Based Prevalence of Perinatal Exposure to Cocaine -
Georgia, 1994, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
Vol 45, No 41. October 18, 1996
Gbodossou, E; Floyd, VD; Katy, C:
“AIDS in Africa: Scenarios for the Future – The Role of Traditional
Medicine in Africa’s Fight Against HIV/AIDS”. UNAIDS Web Magazine,
September 2003 [submitted for publication]
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