Appreciating the Greatest Gift: Medical Students Host Cadaver Memorial

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas (January 10, 2005) - The idea of donating your body to science is one most people have probably never thought about. However, to those people generous enough to will their cadavers to the gross anatomy lab at the College of Medicine, the students would like to say thanks.

Organized by the first-year medical students, the Cadaver Memorial Service will be held Wednesday, January 12 at 11 a.m. in the lobby of the Reynolds Medical Building on the Texas A&M west campus. The memorial service is an annual event that allows gross anatomy students to publicly express their appreciation for the individuals who donated their bodies for the educational benefit of physicians-in-training.

“Gross anatomy definitely is very important to our education here,” first-year student Angie Wu said. “Sometimes we have to look at the cadavers as specimens, but we also really do remember they were once living people.”

Wu is helping to organize this year’s event, which will consist of a welcome from the class and two speakers. Dr. Wayne Sampson, professor and Gross Anatomy Course Coordinator, and Dr. Roy Smythe, College of Medicine Chair of Surgery at Scott & White Hospital, will both offer a few remarks, followed by a candle lighting ceremony.

Wu said she and her fellow students are grateful for the generosity of the people who donated their cadavers. “There’s no substitute for learning about the body first-hand and our cadavers allow us to do that. You just can’t learn to be a doctor from looking at pictures.”