Gift of Body Celebrates Donors’ Contributions to Medical Education

Medical students at the School of Medicine recently gathered to thank the families of those who donated their bodies to medical education during the annual Gift of Body commemoration on Aug. 17. The event is a time to recognize the lessons donors help teach to hundreds of medical and health profession students each year.

“The Gift of Body commemoration gives our university and students a chance to say ‘thank you’ to our donors and their families who make health sciences training so successful here,” said Casey Holliday, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences. “Whole-body donation is a gift just as cherished as blood and organ donations, and we hope fellow Missourians continue to contribute to this important program.”

Donors serve as the medical students’ very first patients. In addition to providing the foundation of knowledge of the human body, the donors also help students begin to identify their emotions associated with life and death. Second-year MU medical students organize a ceremony each year to honor the donors and their families.

For Miranda Eubank, a second-year medical student and a student ambassador for the ceremony, the Gift of Body program has been instrumental in her medical school education.

“The commemoration ceremony is the least we can do to honor the altruistic people who have donated their bodies to help others,” Eubank said. “Although they have passed, the knowledge they have given us will continue to live on.”

The ceremony represents a critical culmination of the students' experience in their anatomy education. The students who have completed their anatomy course can proudly say that they have learned the anatomy of the human body by virtue of the donors in the Gift of Body program.

“One of the most important aspects of the program has been the recent invitation of family members of donors,” said Laura Johnson, PhD, Gift of Body program director. “The opportunity to thank them for the sacrifice of putting their grieving process on hold, and hearing their words about their family members, has brought a deeper layer of meaning to the event.”