Mary E. Davidson, MSW

Executive Director

On February 29, 2004, KS&A’s Board of Directors approved Mary’s appointment as Executive Director, currently a part-time volunteer position in which, along with the Executive Chairman, she is responsible for overseeing KS&A’s operations and staff functions. 

Mary brings a rare combination of personal as well as professional experience to this position.  She has over fifteen years of hands-on experience in managing nonprofit advocacy and self-help organizations, as well as serving as a strategic planning and policy consultant for nonprofit groups. 

Prior to assuming the role of KS&A Executive Director, Mary served as Executive Director of the Genetic Alliance, an international coalition of 600 genetics disease advocacy organizations.  During her eight years with the Genetic Alliance (1996 to 2004), she oversaw strategic planning and capacity building of all programmatic, administrative, financial, educational and policy aspects of the organization, and spearheaded the transition of that organization from its limited founding stage to a more mature phase of organizational development with professional staff, a development-oriented board and diverse, stable and significantly expanded funding

Prior to her employment at the Genetic Alliance, Mary served for two years as Program Supervisor of the Unaccompanied Minor Refugee Program sponsored by Lutheran Social Services, where she administered this educational support program for political refugee children and their foster families.  Before this, for three years, she served as Board Chairperson for Tokyo International Learning Community, an international school for physically and emotionally challenged children, based in Tokyo, Japan.

In addition to her work in nonprofit organizational development and transformation, Mary has worked as a mental health professional with a Masters in Clinical Social Work.  She has held numerous clinical positions working with children, adolescents and families as a psychotherapist and clinical social worker, both in an agency as well as private practice setting. 


Mary previously served on the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing (SACGT) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and was co-chair of the SACGT Rare Diseases Working Group.  Additionally, she was a founding member of the Genome Awareness Coalition and served on the steering committees for the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics, the Coalition for Genetic Fairness and the Consumer Coalition for Health Privacy.  She also served on the Whitehead Institute Board of Associates, and the NIH Cystic Fibrosis Consensus Conference.  She has authored and/or co-authored numerous articles for professional and popular journals on the subjects of genetics, genetic testing and public health, and has spoken extensively on these and related topics in invited presentations in the U.S. and overseas.

Mary earned a B.A. degree in History from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Masters in Social Work (M.S.W.) from the University of Maryland Graduate School of Social Work and Community Planning.  She has also participated in post-graduate study in psychopharmacology and microbiology at Catholic University and American University, and posseses extensive international and cross-cultural experience.

• Read about why Mary is interested in KS&A’s mission and cares to serve as Executive Director...