biology

Lois DeBakey

Lois DeBakey is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lois DeBakey rather than just read about it. In short: Lois DeBakey (6 July 1920 – 15 June 2016) was an American professor of scientific communications at Baylor College of Medicine and Tulane University School of Medicine. and with her sister Selma, created the first medical school communication courses that were curriculum-approved. DeBakey served on the National Library of Medicine Board of Regents and was the sister of Michael DeBakey, the cardiovascular surgeon and…

Key takeaways

Lois DeBakey belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lois DeBakey to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lois DeBakey from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lois DeBakey (6 July 1920 – 15 June 2016) was an American professor of scientific communications at Baylor College of Medicine and Tulane University School of Medicine. and with her sister Selma, created the first medical school communication courses that were curriculum-approved. DeBakey served on the National Library of Medicine Board of Regents and was the sister of Michael DeBakey, the cardiovascular surgeon and medical educator.

Early life and education Lois DeBakey was raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana by her parents Raheeja and Shaker DeBakey, who were Lebanese Christians that fled the Ottoman Empire. Lois is the sister to Selma DeBakey and Michael DeBakey. DeBakey attended Tulane's Sophie Newcomb College where she earned a B.A. in mathematics and was part of Phi Beta Kappa, an honorary scholastic society. At Tulane University she also earned a master's degree and a PhD in literature and linguistics.

Career Lois DeBakey, along with her sister, Selma, worked to encourage physicians to avoid complicated medical jargon. The DeBakey sisters traveled around the world giving presentations to help doctors be more precise and clear when speaking with patients. In 1962 the DeBakey sisters created and taught the first communication course approved for a medical school curriculum at Tulane University School of Medicine and in 1968 they moved to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where Lois DeBakey worked as a Professor of Scientific Communication. The DeBakey sisters shared an office in the Texas Medical Center, just down the hall from their brother Michael's office. While at Tulane University, DeBakey was an English Department faculty member and served on the editorial board of the Tulane University Studies in English publication. During her career, Lois DeBakey served on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Medical Association, was chairman for MEDLINE and Index Medicus databases of the National Library of Medicine, and was a member of the National Library of Medicine's Board of Regents from 1982–1986.

Honors and awards Membership in the Golden Key National Honour Society Harold Swanberg Distinguished Service Award of the American Medical Writer's Association The Medical Library Association's first John P. McGovern Award Lectureship, 1983

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lois DeBakey

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lois DeBakey claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lois DeBakey before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lois DeBakey ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lois DeBakey

In research: Lois DeBakey appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lois DeBakey in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lois DeBakey is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1920 births, 2016 deaths, American librarians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lois DeBakey outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lois DeBakey in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lois DeBakey means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lois DeBakey out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lois DeBakey in simple terms?

Why does Lois DeBakey matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lois DeBakey?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lois DeBakey.