Dr. Michael E. DeBakey’s contributions to the National Library of Medicine

Known as the father of modern cardiovascular surgery, Dr. Michael E. DeBakey’s pioneering achievements in medicine are well documented. However, you may not be aware of DeBakey’s role in helping shape the National Library of Medicine as it exists today.

On March 21, Dr. George Noon, professor of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, and Dr. Shelley McKellar, Jason A. Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine at Western University, gave the inaugural Michael E. DeBakey Lecture in the History of Medicine at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Md.

Noon discussed DeBakey’s efforts to expand the regional medical library system as chair of President Johnson’s Commission on Heart disease, Cancer and Stroke.

“DeBakey and his fellow commission members recommended that the National Library of Medicine be adequately funded to improve the nation’s medical library system,” Noon said. “The Medical Library Assistance Act was signed into law in 1965, providing the library with grants to improve facilities in regions across the United States.”

Watch the entire lecture below.