| Beauty pageant titleholder | |
| Born | Deidre Downs July 7, 1980 Alabama, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Title(s) | Miss Alabama 2004, Miss America 2005 |
| Major competition(s) |
Miss America 2005 (Winner) |
Deidre Downs (born July 7, 1980) is a beauty pageant contestant and winner of Miss America 2005. She is from Birmingham, Alabama. As part of her year of service as Miss America, she campaigned for Curing Childhood Cancer. For her talent, she sang a rendition of the ballad "I'm Afraid This Must Be Love". Downs succeeded Miss America 2004 Ericka Dunlap on September 18, 2004.
Downs is also the winner with the longest reign—excluding Mary Katherine Campbell, who won the pageant twice in consecutive years—due to the pageant being switched from September to January. Her reign ended 490 days after her crowning on January 21, 2006, when Jennifer Berry succeeded her as Miss America 2006.
Downs attended Pelham High School in Pelham, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. She started as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia (where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority), becoming a member of the prestigious Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, before transferring to Samford University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in history. She was a Rhodes Scholar finalist, and played volleyball while at Virginia. In 2010 she obtained her M.D. degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine. She is currently a resident physician in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center.
| Preceded by Catherine Crosby |
Miss Alabama 2004 |
Succeeded by Shannon Camper |
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