Davie studied the blood proteins involved in coagulation and was among the first scientists to describe the steps of the clotting process.
[3] He received an undergraduate degree in 1950 from the University of Washington, where he had worked in the laboratory of biochemistry professor Donald Hanahan.
[5] During his doctoral studies, Davie worked with Hans Neurath to learn about protein structure and function.
[4] After a postdoctoral fellowship with Fritz Lipmann at Harvard Medical School, Davie worked at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine from 1957 to 1962, where he met hematologist Oscar Ratnoff, the discoverer of Hageman factor (later known as factor XII).
[12] The Centre for Blood Research at the University of British Columbia established the Earl W. Davie Symposium in his honor.