Dr. Davis A. Davis is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is the Associate Director and Chief Neuroanatomist at the University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank, an NIH NeuroBioBank. Dr. Davis received his PhD in Pathology from Boston University School of Medicine and completed his post doctorate training at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology located at the University of Southern California. He joined the University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank with the goal of utilizing his training to provide investigators with the highest quality biospecimens to catalyze their research. He has participated in and supervised the recovery, dissection and allocation of more than 15,000 biospecimens for NIH NeuroBioBank investigators. Dr. Davis is developing a multidisciplinary research program involving the collaboration of environmental scientists, ethnobotanists, neurologist, pathologists, and toxicologists all focused on investigating the effects of environmental exposures on the brain. In South Florida, our water systems are affected by cyanobacterial blooms that produce many toxins. Dr. Davis is currently focused on how exposure to these toxin and other toxicants (i.e. metals and plastics) in the environment impact the health of residents in Florida. He has devoted his scientific career to explore the relationship between toxins in our environment and their potential roles in causing neurodegenerative disease. His current research focuses on the connection between the cyanobacterial toxin BMAA, dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. His most recent publication in the Journal of Experimental Neurology and Neuropathology in 2020 has documented the chronic dietary exposure to BMAA can cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-type pathology using a preclinical vervet model. He is a board certified toxicologist, member of the American Association of Neuropathologists, the American Association of Bioanalysts Board of Registry, the Society of Toxicology Southeastern Chapter, and the International Society of Neurotoxicology. His research on cyanobacterial toxins has been featured in several film documentaries as well as nationwide publications including CNN, the Miami Herald, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The London Economic, and the Washington Post.