First year medical students gathered on Monday night to honor the individuals who, through the gift of their bodies after death, provided the first lessons in the students’ medical school education. The students recently finished the Human Structure segment, in which they get hands-on experience with human anatomy.
Students Kyle Bounds, Mary Catherine Cowen, Clay Schuler, and Amalie Gunn spoke at the ceremony.
“Our studies are not only rigorous, but steeped in respect,” Gunn said. “We learned from the human form in such an intimate and humbling way…the donors were our first patients and our first teachers. We want to thank the families of the donors for these final profound acts of generosity.”
Schuler recited from the poem “Thank You to a Stranger,” and UAMS staff chaplain Jason Chambers shared a prayer for the donors.
The class also presented an original artwork to the faculty. The piece will hang in the hallway outside the anatomy lab.
At the end of the ceremony, a student representative from each lab table group placed a rose in memory of their donor.
Each year, about 100 people sign up to donate their body to science upon their deaths through the UAMS Anatomical Gift Program. For more information, please visit the Anatomical Gift Program website.
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