Similar scenes played out across the country this spring as medical, dental and physical therapy students assembled to offer tributes to whole-body donors and their families. At the ceremonies, students perform music, light candles, read letters and share art. Sometimes a tree designation or an offering of flowers to a donor’s family is included. Even with the introduction of elaborate 3-D visualization software, dissection remains a cornerstone of a medical education for most first-year students, as it has for centuries. Students spend months methodically studying the structures of the body, including organs, tendons, veins and tissue.

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Persons: Bree Zhang, Diana Cervantes, Joy Balta, “ You’re, you’ve, ”, Balta Organizations: Columbia, The New York Times, American Association for, Anatomy Learning, Point Loma Nazarene University Locations: Columbia, United States, Point, San Diego