Tom Fudge: Chances are, you know somebody who has willed his or her body to science. Medical schools all around the country sponsor body donation programs so that med students and researchers have human specimens to work on. The UCSD Medical School has its own program and it’s always looking for more donors.
Body donation programs have a built-in PR challenge. Most people, not to mention most of their relatives, find the idea of turning their remains over to scientific experiments a little bit creepy. Every once in a while, we hear of scandals in which some body donation program is misusing or even selling cadavers. That has a negative impact on the trust that family members must extend to the programs that use their bodies.
To learn more about UCSD’s Body Donation Program, you can call (858) 534-4536.
Guests
- Dr. Maria C. Savoia, vice dean for medical education and professor at UCSD’s School of Medicine.
- Dr. Mark Whitehead, faculty advisor for the Body Donation Program, head of the anatomy course on body donation, and professor at UCSD’S School of Medicine.
