Davies honored for mentoring efforts

'Philadelphia' magazine picked the Penn prof to be featured this month. That smiling face featured in this month's Philadelphia magazine as a Chrysler and Plymouth Woman of the Year belongs to Penn Microbiology Professor Helen Davies. Honored for her mentoring contributions, Davies, the faculty master of Spruce College House, was rewarded with a one-page biography and photograph in the local monthly publication. "Everybody in Philadelphia has seen it," said Eleni Anni, a professor at Thomas Jefferson University, who nominated Davies for the award. A panel of judges comprised of representatives from sponsors Chrysler, Philadelphia magazine, Lifetime Television and B101 selected Davies after the magazine combed through approximately 150 initial nominating letters, according to the magazine's promotions department. Davies, 74, who said she usually gives her age as 23 on the Centigrade scale to help students learn temperature conversion, last year won the 1998 Lifetime Mentor Award of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her work with women and minorities in science. Davies said that this year's honor is at the same time "very funny" because it is sponsored by a car dealership and "lovely" because it is advertised locally. "It was a little disconcerting that I was going to be on the same page as an automobile," Davies said, adding that she has gotten numerous e-mails and telephone calls in response to the distinction. Currently teaching a graduate-level "Mechanisms of Infection" course through the Medical School and undergraduate-level "Infectious Diseases" class in the School of Arts and Sciences, Davies said the magazine spread inaccurately labeled her a "professor of biochemistry." Davies' students, however, know that she is not only an expert on microbiology but also an able teacher of the subject. "Her class was the best one I've taken at Penn so far," said College sophomore Bonnie Manaskie, who took Davies' infectious diseases course last spring. Davies structures her undergraduate class, which is aided by some singing instruction, to let each student take part in presenting the material. College senior Emily Pollack, a residential advisor in Spruce College House, is currently taking the infectious diseases course. Pollack, a History major applying to law school, said Davies makes the scientific topic relevant to everyone. "She has made it so applicable to the real world," Pollack said after having completed an in-depth presentation on leprosy and listening to Davies' songs. And those who nominated Davies for the award echoed this praise. Thomas Jefferson's Anni met Davies in 1983 while conducting postdoctoral work at Penn's Biochemistry/Biophysics Department. "Helen provided her lab for me," Anni said, adding that Davies was neither her supervisor or even a colleague in the department. "She was so nice to help me." Both women are members of the Philadelphia Association for Women in Science, where Davies -- president of the national AWIS in Washington, D.C. -- still asks about Anni's work and publications. Anni said Davies' spread in the magazine, while small, is a well-deserved tribute. "It's not the Nobel Prize," Anni said. "[But] it's a token of appreciation for Helen."