Come February, William T. Davis, PhD, MS, RN, is retiring from The Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY. Quitting work, however, is not part of the plan.

As a 45-year nurse who rose through the professional ranks from LPN to PhD, Davis figures he has enough experiences to fill a book - at least one. And he's promising a candid tell-all, from growing up in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic dad in suburban Pennsylvania to being a successful gay male nurse in Manhattan whose work in AIDS and sickle cell anemia has brought him international recognition.

"Endurance" is the tentative working title. He's also eyeing a DVD, focusing on the adult, sickle cell patient.

"I do feel like I have a good 10 years left," the affable Davis quipped of his earning prospects, regardless of where he winds up. "I want to keep my hand in something."

Rooting for the Underdog

Davis has always liked a challenge. As a youth, he was told he would never amount to much. He believes that comment only fueled his resolve to prove otherwise as he got older. He also has a tendency to be drawn to do things others do not want to do. And excel at them.

"I never minded being a little different, personally or professionally," he said.

Now 66, he came to Mount Sinai at age 21. Like Davis himself, his path represents a mixture of serious and surprise. Undoubtedly, the proof is in the diary he's been keeping since Day 1 at Mount Sinai.

He admits an ongoing struggle for men to advance in the nursing field surprises him. He's also learned disparities and endurances are all part of life, and laments how a job that used to be fun and required great teamwork, has given way to an overload of stress for many in the field.

Being gay, he said, never really came into play on the job.

"I wore a ring," he said, "third finger, left hand."

People just assumed he was involved. And, he was. But those details, he's saving for his book.

New York or Bust

Davis can barely remember when he didn't work. Among his earliest jobs were after-school positions at a nursing home and an animal hospital. The family of his best friend owned the nursing home in New Castle, PA. When his friend announced he was going to nursing school after graduation from high school, Davis decided he would, too.

An uncle who lived in New York told Davis about the Central School for Practical Nurses, which was affiliated with Harlem Hospital. He told Davis if he was accepted, he could live with him in New York.

To say the rest is history is cutting Davis' story monumentally short. Still, after graduation as an LPN, Davis worked at Metropolitan Hospital from 1963 to 1967 in a variety of clinical areas. At the same time, he was also working per diem at Mount Sinai.

When he was finally hired on staff at Mount Sinai, he was put in charge of the med/surg floor. During that time, he received two merit pay increases for "outstanding performance in nursing."

Continuing Education

There was never any question Davis would continue his education. He went on to earn his associate's degree in nursing from the Borough of Manhattan Community College in 1971; a bachelor's in sociology from Marymount Manhattan College in 1979; a master's in community health education from City University of New York/Hunter College in 1982; and a PhD in health science from Saba University School of Medicine in 2000.

"All of life is a learning process," said Davis, who has been an adjunct faculty member at Saba since 1994 and teaches at Gotham Nurse Registry.

Looking back, Davis said he was raised to think nursing was only about Florence Nightingale.

He would like more people to know the first nurses were the Alexian Brothers, a Catholic men's religious order which began in the mid-1200s, before the bubonic plague.

When most people were shunning the sick and dying, the Alexian Brothers were tending to the sick, feeding the hungry and burying the dead.

"The Lady with the Lamp" didn't come into play until the 1840s.

Lifelong Friendships

When Davis began working in the nursing home as a teen, he quickly found the job rewarding. Caring for people came naturally to him.

Over the years, Davis has certainly seen many changes in healthcare practices - both good and bad. Making friends on the job was never as important as doing the job well, though he has carved some lifelong relationships.

One such relationship is that with his best friend and mentor, Miriam Carasa, EdD, RN, NE-BC, chief nursing officer at St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan. Davis said he can't thank Carasa enough for all of her the support.

Full Schedule

Davis leaves Mount Sinai as a nurse clinician for the adult sickle cell program. His hope is to improve the care and services offered to people living with sickle cell disease, what he called a poorly understood genetic disorder. He developed a clinical pathway for the adult patient. It's why he's interested in doing a DVD.

For Davis, one of the early highlights of his career at Mount Sinai was being one of the first males to work in pediatrics. It touched his pioneer spirit.

More recently, he was honored by his acceptance as a fellow in the New York Academy of Medicine.

He is also proud of his invitation to deliver the keynote speech at the 94th annual meeting of the Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S., about the same time as the AIDS crisis was peaking and when it was still known as GRID, Gay-Related Immune Deficiency.

Davis wrote the first home nursing care plan for a person living with AIDS, and as a volunteer with the American Red Cross, he developed the first home-nurse training for AIDS caregivers.

In 1997, the Council of the City of New York recognized Davis for his "immeasurable contribution" in the fight against AIDS.

With all his education, work experience, organizations, awards, community activities, consulting work, lectures and speaking engagements, it's no surprise his curriculum vitae is 11 full pages.

"I like to be busy," Davis said.

And while he's leaving his full-time job soon, Davis said he has no intention of slowing down.

"There's too much I still want to do," he said.

Rose Quinn is a frequent contributor to ADVANCE.