Patricia (Jackson) DeCoursey (28 December 1932 - 1 January 2022) was a leading researcher in the field of chronobiology. Her research focused on behavioral, physiological, and ecological aspects of mammalian circadian rhythms. She is credited with creating the first Phase Response Curve (PRC). PRC’s are used throughout the field today to help illustrate the change of a biological oscillation in response to an external stimulus. She worked as a biology professor at the University of South Carolina (USC) from 1967 until her retirement as director of the W. Gordon Belser Arboretum in 2019.