Virginia Davis Floyd
Visiting Scholar in Traditional Knowledge
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 also serves 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. 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.
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).
