SCS student receives Rhodes Scholarship

Lewis Fry

Congratulations Lewis Fry who has been awarded a New Zealand 2017 Rhodes Scholarship.

A Monash University MBBS final year student, Lewis completed his Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons) in 2015.  

Lewis will use the prestigious scholarship to study a DPhil in Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, with a focus on diseases of the retina.

“Visual loss and blindness have a huge impact on a person’s quality of life and independence and for many people with conditions like macular degeneration or inherited retinal diseases, there are few treatments to restore vision or prevent its loss,” said Lewis.

“My research will focus on our understanding of emerging therapies for these conditions.”

Beyond Oxford, Lewis hopes to pursue further clinical training as an ophthalmologist in addition to working in basic science research.

“As we pursue advancing therapies in medicine I see a huge role for the clinician-scientist who can act as a bridge between scientists, doctors, engineers, patients and the commercial world.”

Lewis said he is very excited to be given this life-changing opportunity.

“This experience will not only provide invaluable skills and challenges, but will continue to shape me as a person. It is humbling to see how other scholars have achieved and contributed in the past, and it is a nervous privilege to follow in their footsteps.”

Lewis acknowledges the many people who have helped guide him on his path.

“SCS was instrumental in giving me a fantastic place to start clinical medicine and I particularly thank Associate Professor Sally Ayoub and the SCS team for creating such a supportive environment, and Professor Michelle Leech for being a role model in how to lead as a teacher, researcher and by the bedside.”

“This opportunity would not be possible had I not been encouraged by lecturers at SCS to take a BMedSc(Hons) year,” said Lewis.

Dragons’ Den competition leads to successful medical study program at SCS

Dragons' Den launch at SCS

A structured group study pilot program for Year 3 medical students at the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) is the result of the recent Dragons’ Den competition, with 100 students in 33 groups already signed up and participating.

Medical students Hector Thomson, Lewis Fry and Marcus Davenport launched their “5 Key Points” program this month, using evidence-based methods to help students retain and recall curriculum content.

Dragons' Den winning team with
Associate Professor Sally Ayoub

“Our theory is that to make studying medicine more effective and efficient, you need divide, synthesise and teach,” said Hector.

“5 Key Points is a program where students form their own study groups with two to three friends.  They are then given a program outline dividing the curriculum over 14 weekly sessions.”

The students split the topics between themselves and study their allocated topics, meeting for two hours a week to teach the rest of the group the topics they have researched. At the end of each session, the group then further summarises each topic into 5 key points that they need to know.

“The students submit their 5 key points to our website and receive our 5 key points in return, which have been reviewed by consultants from Monash Health—providing a guide for the students and ensuring they are focusing on the essential issues.”

Lewis and Marcus said from their own experience, they identified the key challenge in Year 3 as the large volume of content and a lack of direction.

“There are over 250 conditions students must cover and it can be an extremely daunting task,” said Lewis.
Marcus, Lewis and Hector did Year 3 at SCS at Monash Medical Centre and formed their own study group.
“We started studying together and found it extremely efficient,” said Marcus.

While the program is still in the early stages of development, the three medical students are delighted with its progress so far.

“This year 5 Key Points is a pilot program at SCS but we hope to expand it to all Year 3 clinical sites in the future,” said Hector.

Hector, Marcus and Lewis thank Dr Claire Dendle who has mentored them throughout the process, as well as the Monash Health consultants who reviewed their material. 

“We are also very grateful for the support of Nicola Abel and Ciara Boyd who have been crucial in getting the program up and running.”


The 5 Key Points website is available at:  http://fivekeypoints.weebly.com