Celebrating Sophie Davis and her Memorial Prize legacy
Back row: Mr Paul Davis, Mr Jordan Davis, Mrs Vicki Davis, Mrs Vivien Davis, Mr Mark Davis, Mr Zac Davis
Front row: Dr Alan Davis
Monash Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences recently celebrated the legacy of Sophie Davis, the inspiration behind the faculty’s annual memorial prize awarded to the faculty’s top-performing medicine students. Sophie’s family members, including her son Alan and grandsons Mark and Paul, attended an alum event to honour and recognise the family’s ongoing generosity in funding the faculty’s most prestigious student prize.
Hosted by Deputy Dean (Medicine) Professor Michelle Leech AM, the event also celebrated and welcomed back past Sophie Davis Memorial Prize recipients, including Director and CEO of The Florey Institute Professor Peter van Wijngaarden, respiratory and sleep physician Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor Belinda Miller, neurologist Professor Richard Stark AO, endocrine hypertension researcher and clinician Associate Professor Jun Yang and many others. Renowned alumnus Emeritus Professor John Murtagh AO and Deputy Dean Innovation and Strategy Professor Ross Coppel also attended.
The guests heard from Sophie’s son, Dr Alan Davis, a retired doctor and former Box Hill Hospital medical director in his 80s, and her grandson, Mark. Alan shared memories of his mother, an “absolutely dynamic, remarkable” woman who was deeply involved in community work and fundraising throughout the 1950s and 1960s, particularly with the Campus Fair Group of Jewish Women. She had “a knack for getting people to work with her on worthy causes,” including supporting university students in Melbourne.
Dr Rachel Cole, Dr Jun Yang, Dr David Motorniak, Dr Rachel Niesen
Mark also shed light on the origin of the prize. Following Sophie’s passing from heart disease in 1966, the Campus Fair Group of Jewish Women wanted to honour her memory and her legacy of supporting medical and health services through fundraising efforts. Monash University had only just been founded in 1961, with its first medicine cohort graduating in 1966. Still, there was yet to be a prestigious award for the top final-year medical student. The Davis family and Sophie’s friends in the Campus Fair group proposed the establishment of an annual award for the top medical student with the highest aggregate mark throughout the degree. Sophie’s husband Morris Davis, a senior physician at the Alfred Hospital, her brother-in-law, a lawyer, and son Alan approached the university with a proposal to create a memorial prize in her honour. The proposal was duly accepted, and the Sophie Davis Memorial Prize was born.
Alan also explained how his father, an amateur artist in his spare time, designed and cast the prize medal, which was then presented to the first recipient at their family home. Over the next 55 years, the Davis family awarded the prize winner’s medal in the Dean’s office, then at the graduation ceremonies and now by Alan and Mark themselves at the faculty’s annual medicine student awards night. Mark’s sons Jordan and Zac, both in attendance at the event, will eventually carry on the family tradition of presenting the annual medal.
Alan said that the Davis family have always appreciated the value of a university education. “We see the Sophie Davis Memorial Prize as an important contribution, as the students who receive it are usually keen to go a long way in their medical careers,” he said. “We’re very happy to contribute to their future in this way.”
Mark also explained that both medicine and Monash University were a strong part of the Davis family history. “My grandfather, father and great uncle were all doctors, and my mother, brother, wife, son, cousin and I are all Monash alumni,” he said. “The prize is very meaningful to our family, and we think it’s important to help provide an incentive and recognition to each year’s clever, strong group of doctors coming through at Monash. We’re proud to play a small part in supporting these students.”
Back row: Dr David Motorniak, Dr Jessica Luzhansky, Dr Jun Yang, Dr Kathryn Connelly, Dr Melissa Northcott, Dr Marcus Robertson, Prof Richard Stark AM, Prof Peter van Wijngaarden, Mr Mark Davis
Middle row: Dr Chelsea Matley, Dr Rachel Cole, Mrs Vicki Davis, Dr Cos Stambe, Prof Belinda Miller, Mrs Vivien Davis
Front row: Mr Jordan Davis, Dr Alan Davis, Mr Zac Davis
1986 prize recipient Professor Sharon Lewin AO, Director of The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, who was unable to attend, shared a video message reflecting on her career, her studies at Monash, and what receiving the prize meant to her and her parents, who were both European refugees who were denied the opportunity for an education due to the Holocaust.
The event closed with an address from Alfred Health junior doctor and medicine alumna from the class of 2022, Dr Rachel Niesen. Rachel is a 2024 Rhodes Scholar who will soon begin postgraduate studies at Oxford University. She spoke of her concern about climate change and health, health equity and her experiences undertaking her medical student placements during Melbourne’s COVID-19 lockdowns.
Are you a Sophie Davis Memorial Prize recipient? We’d love to hear from you to ensure we can include you in future related activities. Contact med-alumni@monash.edu.
About Monash University
Monash University is Australia’s largest university with more than 80,000 students. In the 60 years since its foundation, it has developed a reputation for world-leading high-impact research, quality teaching, and inspiring innovation.
With four campuses in Australia and a presence in Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and Italy, it is one of the most internationalised Australian universities.
As a leading international medical research university with the largest medical faculty in Australia and integration with leading Australian teaching hospitals, we consistently rank in the top 50 universities worldwide for clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences.
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