Thanks to the efforts of the MBU faculty and staff, led by Dr. David McLeod, Mary Baldwin is now one of the few institutions in Virginia offering undergraduate students hands-on learning with human cadavers.
Medical schools widely acknowledge that full body dissection is not only the best way for aspiring doctors to learn human anatomy, but also an opportunity to practice surgical skills that will benefit them in future clinical practice.
But what if that experience was available much earlier to students preparing for healthcare careers?
Mary Baldwin is now only one of a handful of schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia where undergraduate students have access to learn first-hand from a wet cadaver in special training sessions designed to increase their knowledge of anatomy.
Connecting students to this study was the result of Dr. David McLeod’s dedicated efforts. The kinesiology professor, with assistance from across the university, has given MBU students the opportunity to be as well-prepared as possible for future careers in medicine, science, or related fields.
When he taught at James Madison University (JMU), McLeod didn’t have access to a wet lab. JMU has one, but it’s reserved for graduate students with only an occasional visit from undergraduates. McLeod values the wet lab as a teaching tool — according to him, it’s the best way for students, especially aspiring healthcare professionals, to learn.
“The fact is, it’s pretty unusual for undergrads to have such access,” said McLeod. “There are only a few schools in the state that have undergraduate wet labs.”
Prior to McLeod’s arrival, students studying anatomy and physiology used cats as model organisms , a practice that is relatively standard for undergraduate anatomy classes.
But McLeod wanted better for his students. Of the few-dozen students enrolled in his anatomy course, almost all of them plan to pursue a career in healthcare.
“If I’m training human practitioners, it’s better to train them on a human model,” McLeod elaborated. “It’s over-complicating their studies, and it over-complicated the job of teaching them, too.”
Before arriving at MBU two years ago, McLeod taught anatomy at James Madison University (JMU), and before that, at the University of Kansas. In Kansas, he had a wet lab for his undergraduate students featuring eight cadavers in use, full-time, to teach students about the human body.
At Mary Baldwin, he aimed for two. But first, the classroom needed a bit of a makeover.
“Ultimately, it’s a perfect example of the kind of collaboration we have here between the Biology department and Murphy Deming. Without the help of both of these teams, we never would’ve removed the fixed benches, installed what we needed for temperature control and power, and made it a more usable and comfortable space for the student and I.”
Cadavers, it turns out, don’t need a room to be frigid. Not even really cold, in fact. Just not warm. “About 68 degrees does the trick,” McLeod assured.
Over the summer, after his first year of teaching, McLeod oversaw the work to transform MBU’s anatomy classroom into a fully-functioning anatomy wet lab. First the removal of tables, then the installation of some air conditioning, and finally, the cadaver tanks were ready to roll in.
McLeod received several apologies from the facilities team for not being able to redo the floors, which bore the marks of the rigid tables they’d removed. McLeod was unbothered — “Who cares about floors! We can get to them some other summer. What matters is that the space works.”
Of course, working with cadavers, the real bodies of people who selflessly donated their bodies to science, is a sensitive practice, and Mary Baldwin students, faculty, and staff could not be more thankful for the selfless donation these individuals made.
In the classroom, the cadavers have had an immediate impact on the undergraduate anatomy experience, McLeod is proud to say:
“In the end, it’s just about making sure students are prepared,” he said. “If we’re training the next generation of doctors, therapists, nurses, and practitioners, I don’t want to give them any less than the best anatomy education I can.”