UAMS College of Medicine freshmen gathered on Dec. 9 to pay homage to the individuals who donated their bodies for the Human Structure course, which helps future physicians learn the complexities of human anatomy and begin to understand the fundamental humanity of medicine.
“Their lives may have ended, but their legacy has just begun,” Class of 2029 Vice President Carson Wleklinski explained in his opening remarks at a ceremony in Walton Auditorium. “It lives on in our hands, in our minds, and in the care we will provide to thousands of patients over the course of our careers. So, to our silent teachers, we offer our deepest humility and our eternal gratitude.”
The ceremony, held annually since 1999, included tributes of poetry, music, displayed artwork and more. Before the service drew to a close, 100-plus students filed to the front of the auditorium to place a red, pink or yellow rose in a cluster of vases, creating a vibrant memorial to the donors. The ceremony was livestreamed for the 21 class members who are based at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus in Fayetteville.
The first nine weeks of the freshman year are devoted to the Human Structure course, led by faculty in the Department of Neuroscience. In the anatomy lab, the cadavers donated through the UAMS Anatomical Gift Program provide new medical students with far greater knowledge and understanding of the human body than textbooks and diagrams alone could impart.
Freshman Mattie Neighbors spoke about a collection of artwork, created by her and classmates Carson Haller, Katherine Hunter, Saminah Munshi, Jada Parker and Alex Sandoval, as expressions of “what we felt, learned, and carried with us” while working in the anatomy lab. For example, Parker’s gouache portrait of fibrous scarring of a myocardial infarction is “a reminder that the heart is resilient, and healing does not mean forgetting.”
“What makes this artwork meaningful is that it embodies the intersection between the human body and the human story,” Neighbors said. “Our donors were much more than the physical forms we studied. They lived full lives, had families, passions and experiences. Through this collaborative piece, we hoped to acknowledge both their scientific contribution and their humanity.”
The artwork, like pieces created by previous freshmen classes since 2014, will be displayed in a gallery in the Patrick W. Tank Anatomy Teaching Complex on the UAMS campus. (View the gallery of previous artwork here.) In earlier years, freshman classes planted trees on campus in remembrance of donors.
The ceremony also featured a reading of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life” by Olivia Chapell and a performance of Eugène Bozza’s “Aria” with Ashton Rodrigues on saxophone and Elias Rushing on keyboard. UAMS staff chaplain Pete Weber also shared words of reflection.
Class President Robert Benafield closed the ceremony, noting that anatomical dissection has been deeply interwoven into the history and practice of medicine. A short soliloquy from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” served as reminder of the continuity of life and hope for the future. On behalf of the class, Benafield expressed gratitude to the families of anatomy donors and, most importantly, for the donors themselves.
“The donation they provided is more than just a gift, but a testament to the power of human generosity and the prudence to leave the world a stronger place,” Benafield said. “As we reflect today, let us reaffirm our promise to honor their sacrifice by carrying forward their legacy — through our commitment to learning, through the care we provide, and through the respect we show to the patients we encounter.”
The Class of 2029 expresses special thanks to Tipton & Hurst for donating the roses for the ceremony.