NYIT Students Honor Body Donors

Osteopathic medical and physician assistant students paid tribute this week to several dozen men and women who donated their bodies to medicine.

In a ceremony acknowledging their "first patients," students praised the donors for providing a foundation for medical education.

"Whenever we see a patient you will be right there with us," a group of students wrote in a booklet containing poems and letters in memory of the donors. "In our mind, our thoughts, and our decisions."

Robert Hill, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Anatomy of NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM), reminded the students that compassion and gratitude—like that expressed at the ceremony—will make healthcare better in the future.

While high-tech teaching tools, computers, and lectures are integral to medical education, Hill said the donors provide an unparalleled opportunity for students to explore the human body.

Following a performance of "Over the Rainbow" by the NYITCOM a cappella group The Note-O-Chords, several hundred students paused for a moment of reflection before placing a single rose at the base of a new Japanese maple planted near the Hannah & Charles Serota Academic Center.