SLU Medical Students Honor ‘Invaluable’ Gift of Body Donors with Memorial Service

10/29/2024

St. Louis — Students at Saint Louis University honored those who donated their bodies for medical education with an Interfaith Memorial Service on Friday, Oct. 25. 

First-year medical students organized the service, led by the faculty of the Center for Anatomical Science and Education (CASE), and Rev. Nicole Armstrong, campus minister of SLU's South Campus.

Students were involved in every aspect of the service — from choosing and performing the music, creating the program artwork, and picking the flowers used in the flower procession. A mix of first-year medical, graduate, and Allied Health students also serve during the memorial giving reflections and participating in the flower procession.

First-year medical student Nathan McLaughlin had a special connection to the memorial. His grandfather D. Graeme Thomas, former executive director of Saint Louis University’s Research Innovation Group, was one of those who made the decision to donate his body to the School of Medicine. McLaughlin said his grandfather died suddenly in August, “passing just a day before our class's first day in the anatomy lab.” He was 86.

McLaughlin spoke about his grandfather’s adventures from his birthplace in Australia to his final resting place in Saint Louis. He described his grandfather’s devotion to his work and 64 years of marriage to his grandmother. He also reflected on the love and the joy that he brought to the people around him.

“There's an old Greek proverb that says, ‘A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.’ Even though we don't know the stories of your loved ones, we can bear witness to the trees that they planted. Please know that the gift that your loved ones chose to give to us is one that we hold with the deepest respect and gratitude,” he said.

First-year medical student Sindhu Ragunathan reflected that one of her greatest fears about spending hours in the anatomy lab was losing her sense of reverence for the human body and the life it once possessed. She worried that the stark setting of “blinding white lights and the overwhelming smell of formaldehyde” would desensitize her.

Ragunathan wondered if she would begin to see her time in the lab as a task to check off to return to the familiar comforts of her life. She was bombarded by these thoughts until she noticed hot pink nail polish on the fingernails of a woman who had donated her body.

“It was a clue to the person she was before and a sign of how loved and cared for she was,” she said. “In learning about muscles, ligaments, tendons of the human body, we learn that even the smallest structures can hold the deepest meanings. Freckles spread across shoulders and cheeks that speak of a life spent in the sun. The anatomy lab cannot possibly feel cold and sterile with so many signs of life in it.”

Ragunathan said she and her classmates will carry their legacy forward in their medical journeys as a reminder that their true purpose is to serve people.

The service, held at St. Francis Xavier College Church, honors all the faith traditions represented in the medical school class. This years’ service included prayers from the Catholic and Spiritual traditions.

Gift Body Program

Each year, people donate their bodies to SLU School of Medicine’s Gift Body Program through the Center for Anatomical Science and Education to educate medical students, allied health students and residents. Between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024, 362 people donated their bodies to SLU.

Saint Louis University’s Gift Body Program is committed to excellence in research and education. The study of human anatomy has long been and continues to be essential to training physicians, physical therapists and other health science professionals.

Twice a year, ashes are buried at Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery, 7030 Gravois Ave. A graveside service is conducted by the medical school campus minister and attended by CASE faculty and staff. 

There is one common grave marker at the site with the following inscription: “Saint Louis University and its students gratefully acknowledge the charity of those buried here who gave their remains for the advancement of medical science.”

Those interested in learning more about the gift body program can call 314-977-8027.