Sidebar: The First Patients

They can’t talk about an ailment or answer the usual litany of questions a doctor might ask.

But these patients are among the most important any prospective health professional will have.

They are cadavers—human bodies donated for scientific study.

Each year, anatomy professors guide NYIT medical students from the College of Osteopathic Medicine and the School of Health Professions through cadaver dissections. A somewhat eerie scene unfolds on the first day of anatomy lab as groups of students gather around several dozen bodies lying on individual steel tables. During 28 three-hour labs throughout the semester, the students work on the same cadaver, carefully teasing nerves from blood vessels and separating fat from body parts. The final eight sessions are devoted to the complete dissection of the head. 

It is at once clinical and intimate.

“I felt a connection, and I knew things about her that most people in her life wouldn’t have known,” says osteopathic medical student Elizabeth Barr, referring to the cadaver she dissected.  “I wish I would have known more of her story, in her own words.”

Faculty members present about 50 hours of live lectures, which they also post online.  During lab, they circle the room, answering questions or assisting.  Students may spend hours studying the dissection afterward.

By semester’s end, students learn the first name, age of the person, and the immediate cause of death. Along the way, they have grown to appreciate the human body’s sophisticated structures and form.

“Holding the heart was surreal,” says Dane Masuda, a physician assistant studies student.  “It was hard to believe that it had powered a whole body for 70-plus years.  It just made me realize how intricate and essentially perfect the human body is, and how everything works together so well.”

In the spring, NYIT holds a service to recognize the donors and the legacy of learning inspired by their most personal gift. The university plants a tree a short distance from the anatomy lab and the students write poems and letters or create art to memorialize the people they view as among their most important teachers.

“John, for you to give such an amazing gift after you had died leaves us only to imagine what you gave when you were alive,” one group wrote this year.

Another cluster of students made a promise: “We will save people’s lives and make you proud … for you have taught us medicine and unconditional love.” 

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