Class of 2003
October 13, 1999

I am grateful for the opportunity to thank all those who have given my classmates and I the privilege of learning form their bodies. Whit the help of our professors, I have learned so much about the human body and am reminded why I chose to study medicine in the first place. What is particularly striking to me is what I realized about the individuality of each person, and how the human body can only tell a small part of the story of someone's life. When I started out as a medical student two months ago, I did not really want to think about the person who offered of themselves, because it made me somewhat nervous and uncomfortable. It was so much easier to work when I shoved any thoughts about who this person was to the back of my brain. That worked for a while, but over the course of the next few weeks I learned so much about anatomy from these people that I could not help but wonder "who was this person?" This was a question that I could not answer, because I was left with only a few clues of what happened over their long lives. When I look at these people, I am reminded of a small scar on my hand, one you can hardly see. Unless I told you, you'd never know that I acquired this scar by running into the side of a bridge on my bike when I was 15. This tiny scar is a reminder of one of the many events of my life, and I'm sure I will acquire many more. As I came across old scars or evidence of an illness on these people, I became curious about their lives, and no longer wanted to forget the person I was studying I realized how little I really knew about a person just by looking at their body. In fact, the only thing I really knew about them is that they and I share a common desire: to be able to help others around them.

To make such a gracious gift as these people have done tells me that they wanted to make sure they would be of service to others even after death. They have become our first patients, and allowed us to learn so that we may be of service to others. Your presence here today is another reminder, because you are all a part of the story of people's lives. So I thank you for coming today and helping me to appreciate that. And even though I may never know those special details of these people's lives that make them who they are, I will try to carry out their request: that their gift be used to make others lives better.