Dr. Diane Davis Medical Laboratory Science Scholarship
The Dr. Diane Davis Medical Laboratory Science Scholarship is awarded to a Junior or Senior level full-time student who is majoring in Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) and has been accepted into the major with demonstrable financial need from FAFSA.
Dr. Diane Davis graduated from Salisbury University in 1980 with a degree in Medical Laboratory Science. She began work as a student in 1979 at Tidal Health, Peninsula in Salisbury and over the next 8 years worked in automated and special chemistry. She began teaching in the MLS program at SU in 1987 but remained employed on a stand-by basis at the hospital until 2016. She retired from SU in 2022.
During Dr. Davis’s career at SU, she taught biochemistry, immunology, laboratory safety, medical physiology, medical terminology, hematology, laboratory management, research, instrumentation and automation. She served SU in many capacities during her tenure to include MLS Clinical Coordinator, MLS Program Director, Chair of the Department of Health Sciences and Health Professions Advising Program Director. She earned two of the highest awards for SU faculty, the Salisbury University Distinguished Faculty Award and the Faculty Appreciation Award from the Salisbury University Alumni Association. Both awards were very meaningful to her since one was recognition by her faculty peers and the other was recognition from former students.
Dr. Davis was an active scholar and participant in professional organizations. She had many publications, including a laboratory safety book with multiple editions, and served in various capacities with regional and national professional organizations. However, she never let any of those activities take her attention from teaching her students. Dr. Davis keenly felt the responsibility of educating future medical laboratory professionals to ensure their competency to provide excellent patient care. She held students to high standards but also gave them the support they needed to achieve those standards and go on to exceptional careers. Dr. Davis cared about her students and always believed in treating her students the way that she’d want someone to treat her own children and help them succeed. During her tenure as program director, the SU MLS Program maintained a 100% pass rate on the national board exam and achieved national accreditation twice with no deficiencies. At retirement, Dr. Davis was proud of all she had accomplished as a faculty member at SU, but she was equally proud of and grateful to her accomplished colleagues on the faculty and the graduates of SU’s MLS program for the privilege of working with them.
Dr. Davis’s children (Phillip Hayes and Lauren Hayes Clark) and husband (Kevin Hayes) were, of course, with her during all the ups and downs of her time at SU and created this scholarship as a loving tribute to all the hard work and achievements of her long career. Their generosity, as well as that of other subsequent donors, is a great gift to future MLS students.