UB anatomy students honored the donors to the university’s
Anatomical Gift
Program during a heartfelt memorial service held June 14 at
Amherst’s Skinnersville Cemetery.
“That these unique individuals willingly donated
themselves to complete strangers in hopes of doing good for others
is the noblest gift imaginable,” said second-year medical
student Mark Bucsek.
“I hope we will never forget the donations that were made
for the well-being of humanity, and that we will follow their
wishes and use the opportunity each of the donors gave us to not
only be better doctors, but better people.”
The director of the Anatomical Gift Program described the gift
of one’s body as “priceless.”
“Anyone who has spent any time teaching or learning human
anatomy knows that no textbook, no computer program and no model
can replace, or come close to replicating, the experience and the
knowledge derived from working on the body of an individual who
made the ultimate gift of themselves,” said Raymond
Dannenhoffer, PhD, associate dean for support services.
“As I tell all of our students, the participants in the
Anatomical Gift Program are the greatest teachers they will ever
have. The students carry the knowledge they acquire throughout
their careers and apply it to every patient they treat.
“More importantly, they learn firsthand from the
generosity of spirit the donors demonstrated. They have a
responsibility to pay forward the gift they were given in all that
they do once they become practicing physicians.”
During the ceremony, students thanked the donors’
families, read poetry and prose and sang.
A group of children released butterflies into the sky, a symbol
of new life and rebirth.
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