Vale Professor John Keith Davies 1948–2025

John Davies was born in South Australia in 1948. After an eventful childhood that included an encounter with polio, he attended the University of Adelaide and graduated with Honours in 1970. He did his PhD with Professor Peter Reeves in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Adelaide and graduated in 1976; his thesis title was ‘Resistance to colicins in Escherichia coli K12’. Not only noted for his academic excellence, John also won awards during this time – including a prize for wrecking the Department’s ultracentrifuge! The warped rotor remained as a prized (and instructive) display for many years in the departmental foyer and no doubt added to his growing legend. John was quite tickled to learn it was still on display some 30+ years later.

John married Judy in 1969 and she and their children, Krys and Belinda, accompanied John during his postdoctoral years at the University of Illinois (USA, 1975–76) and then the University of Umea (Sweden, 1977–79). It was in Sweden that he was introduced to Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which became the focus of his research throughout his career. He returned to Australia as a Lecturer in Microbiology (1980–83) at Deakin University before joining the Department of Microbiology at Monash University in 1983, initially at the Alfred Hospital Campus and then at Clayton. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1985, to Associate Professor in 1994 and to Professor in 2004. He was Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Medicine from 1999 to 2000, Deputy Head of the Department of Microbiology from 1998 to 2002 and Head of Department from 2004 to 2011. He retired at the beginning of 2012, but held an affiliate role until the end of 2019.

One of the so-called ‘Young Turks’ that included Ben Adler, Peter Wright and Julian Rood, John was influential in pushing the department into the modern era; leading a radical restructuring of the teaching offerings of the department. In the 2000s John was a key member of the prominent ARC Centre of Excellence in Structural and Functional Microbial Genomics and an NHMRC Program Grant on the Molecular Basis of Bacterial Infectious Diseases. These large collaborative grants were noteworthy in training many of our current research leaders and laid a foundation for today’s more collaborative research environment.

John was highly valued for his scientific rigour, wisdom and intellectual acumen, paired with his laid-back nature and cool head in a crisis. He was generous with his time and intellect and an excellent mentor for the many PhD students that were trained in his laboratory, several of whom have gone on to become eminent professors and research leaders in the microbiology and infectious diseases fields. A feature of John’s research was his intellectual fearlessness. He was a true pioneer of the molecular revolution in microbiology. He was an early adopter of techniques such as DNA sequencing and cloning, that allowed scientists to understand microbes for the first time at a molecular level. He co-founded the BacPath Conferences, which have had a major impact on the Australian microbiology research community. He was also active internationally, being part of the community that established the International Pathogenic Neisseria Conference, which has been running for the past 50 years. The regard for his influence was such that he was able to attract the meeting to Australia in 2006, upsetting its traditional circuit between Europe and USA.

His research interests were broad, with his early work exploring the barriers among gonococci to foreign DNA uptake and the role of DNA restriction modification. His research group whole-heartedly embraced DNA sequencing and made seminal discoveries on the structure and function of key genes and plasmids among the Neisseria. His willingness to move into new fields of research was repeatedly demonstrated over his career. John was ‘front and centre’ when the genome revolution took hold in the early 2000s. With colleagues at Monash University, he published some of the first complete bacterial pathogen genomes in Australia. In addition to his seminal work on the Neisseria, John had significant publications with his Monash colleagues on Acinetobacter, Clostridium, Pseudomonas, Mycobacterium, Enterococcus and Staphylococcus. John’s laboratory was an eclectic and exciting mix of scientists, that spanned honours graduates embarking on a PhD, mature-age students returning to tackle a graduate research higher degree, experienced postdoctoral scientists, and professionals that included dentists and infectious diseases clinicians with interesting clinical problems or questions to try and address with John’s help. John welcomed them all and encouraged them in his quiet, considered and unaffected way. He was very generous with his resources and there are many famous bacterial strains and plasmids appended with the moniker of ‘JKD’ used throughout the world today.

With his height, impressive beard and taciturn reputation, his resemblance to Joe Cocker was often remarked upon! John was an imposing figure, but with a warm heart and a generous, kindly persona. Famous at Monash for his outside ‘smoko’, John was always approachable and willing to help others. When John chaired conference sessions he put nervous speakers at ease with a quiet, reassuring word. Small gestures like these accumulated across his career and left lasting positive impacts on those with the good fortune to enter his orbit.

Affected by ill-health over the past few years, John battled on and did all he could to keep in touch with his colleagues. That his Monash colleagues, and his national and international peers, continually asked after him and were concerned for his welfare is testament to the impact that he had upon them both at a personal and scientific level.

John Davies was considered to be a founding father of neisserial molecular genetics and made many significant discoveries in this field. He had a major impact on the Australian microbial genetics and bacterial pathogenesis community. His legacy can be seen in the success of the students and staff who passed through his laboratory, which is a testament to his wonderful mentorship and care for others.

We reflect and celebrate a life well-lived with great kindness, intellect and compassion for all. Professor John K Davies, a.k.a. JKD, you will be sorely missed.

Charlene Kahler, Tim Stinear, Ben Adler and Julian Rood