Lois O'Grady, an original faculty member of the UC Davis School of Medicine and the first woman on the school's faculty, died at her Sacramento home on Dec. 23, 2007. She was 71.

"Dr. O'Grady was a strong mentor and advocate for women faculty," said Lydia Howell, vice chair and director of anatomic pathology. "Many of the women on the faculty at UC Davis Health System owe at least part of their careers to Dr. O'Grady."

O'Grady was born on June 9, 1936, in Medford, Mass. She received her bachelor's degree from Simmons College in Boston in 1958, and her medical degree from Boston University in 1962. She completed residency training in internal medicine, and fellowship training in hematology and oncology at Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital (now Rush University Medical Center) in Chicago.

In 1967, O'Grady became one of the original faculty members of the then-new UC Davis School of Medicine. Initially hired as an instructor, Dr. O'Grady became a full professor in 1978. That same year, the dean of the School of Medicine, C. John Tupper, asked O'Grady to formulate a new admissions policy for the school in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. In that decision, the court barred quota systems in college admissions but affirmed the constitutionality of affirmative action programs giving equal access to minorities.

Donations in O'Grady's name may be made to the UC Davis Hospice Program, 3630 Business Drive, Sacramento, CA 95820, or to a charity of the donor's choice.

UC Davis Health System