Mortui vivos docent, “the dead teach the living.”
Kerry Peterson, the U’s body donor program director, has spent the last 20 years of his life dedicated to maintaining that creed to the highest degree.
As director, Peterson cares for the bodies that are donated to the program — ensuring they are preserved properly and treated with the utmost respect.
Without these generous donations, programs at the U would not be able to function, Peterson said.
More than 100 bodies are donated on a yearly basis. They are used to educate students all across campus in the medical school, physical therapy and occupational therapy programs, medical illustrator and engineering programs and lower campus anatomy classes.
And educating students in all of these programs is Peterson’s priority-because the best way to understand the body and how it works is to see it in person.
“Education in all of these programs is a part of the big picture; if you don’t have it all, then the chain is not as strong,” Peterson said.
Bo Foreman, director of the U’s anatomy program, said without cadaver donations students wouldn’t be able to learn the intricacies of the body.
“This program gives students the opportunity to learn anatomy in a three-dimensional way,” Foreman said. “This is a way to feel textures and see in them in the body.”
Many donors to the program are not who people would expect, Foreman said.
“There is a misconception that the bodies donated come from the indigent population,” Foreman said. “When people donate their bodies, they know it is a gift; they come from all social backgrounds.”
Angela Orton, the family and community liaison for the program, said body donation is beneficial to all participants.
“A lot of people who donate are in the medical field or school teachers,” Orton said. “Many of them learned from a cadaver in school and want to give back.”
This is a way for them to continue teaching even though they have passed away, Orton said.
“This is an incredible gift to students,” Foreman said. “This allows students to learn from them, and students never forget that.”
For more information about the U’s body donor program visit www.neuro.utah.edu/bodydonor/bdfaq.php.