Dr. Michael E. DeBakey passed away last night, and hearing the news took me back to another lifetime ago….
After I graduated from college with a BS in Biology, I began some wonderful post baccalaureate work at Baylor College of Medicine in the Human and Molecular Genetics Dept. It was such an awesome environment.. buzzing with hard work, and competition, industry, exploration, cutting edge work… the energy of the place was amazing. You could feel your brain cells swell and grow as you worked on your research.
And Dr. DeBakey was a part of that. As grad students there were plenty of lectures we could attend.. some for the med students, some just general purpose lectures. And I attended a couple of lectures that Dr. Debakey gave. It was always clear how much he loved BCM, and how important he felt research to be. You could not help but admire and respect this pioneer in the cardiovascular field.
I never saw him out of his scrubs… he was always wearing his surgical cap, and scrubs, even for the lectures he gave. This picture is always how I saw him, and how I will remember him: click here.
Take a moment to click on his name at the beginning of this blog entry and read about this man. Chances are, his work has touched someone’s life you know… due to a technique he invented or pioneered, or perfected.
