Impact on Education

Whole body donation's impact on education

Seventy percent of Minnesota’s healthcare workforce is educated at the University of Minnesota. Anatomy is one of the first courses the medical, dental, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and mortuary science majors have in their curriculum. Many advanced level courses offered at the University of Minnesota bring practicing healthcare providers back to campus in order to learn new techniques and become experienced using new devices and surgical instrumentation. 

Beyond the educational importance, new opportunities to better understand the anatomical cause and process of disease through research has made access to whole body donors more relevant than ever in our history. In addition to researching what causes disease, understanding how to best treat patients is also important research happening at the University of Minnesota. 

For more information about the history of the University of Minnesota’s Medical School including important medical advancement milestones, click here.

The Twin Cities Metro Area is one of the premiere biomedical device hubs in the nation. Many biomedical engineers within the medical research field access human remains to better  understand the anatomy involved in designing devices to treatment conditions and diseases in our populations.

Every healthcare recipient within Minnesota has been the beneficiary of the generous donations made by the Anatomy Bequest Program donors. For example, at your next doctor’s visit, ask him/her about their anatomy experience. More than likely, he/she will describe how important the experience was to their learning and speak with reverence about the donors who taught them anatomy.

Contact Us

Anatomy Bequest Program

Medical School

TEL: 612-625-1111

FAX: 612-625-1688

Email: bequest@umn.edu