At 86, the singing professor helps students remember details
As a student a half-century ago, Helen C. Davies, 86, a professor of microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania, invented rhyming songs to help memorize details. Now she sings for her students, with two dozen song sheets for microbiology.
Everything you need to know about Helen C. Davies, 86, a professor of microbiology – not emeritus professor, mind you, but professor – at the University of Pennsylvania, you can learn from her medical students.
She insists on being called Helen. She moved into an apartment in a dorm more than 18 years ago, feeling that she could improve racial tolerance after a nasty episode on campus. She still lives there.
As a student herself a half-century ago, she invented rhyming songs to help memorize details. Now she sings for her students, with two dozen song sheets for microbiology.
To the tune of "Yesterday," by the Beatles:
Leprosy,
Bits and pieces falling off of me . . .
Suddenly,
I'm not half the man I used to be . . .
Several years ago, an honors student who asked for a meeting to review her project on human papillomavirus was surprised when Helen suggested Sunday at her office. "Don't you need a break?" the student asked.
"If you like what you do this much," the professor replied, "you want to do it for as long as you can."