Sixteen teams of students presented their findings to a judging panel of faculty members and a renowned local expert, Dr. Jan Garavaglia, chief medical examiner for Orange and Osceola counties, and star of聽 Discovery Health 麻豆精品 S檚 麻豆精品 S淒r. G: Medical Examiner. 麻豆精品 S�

麻豆精品 S淭ypical medical schools are not going to have you talk about pathophysiology and why the patient died, 麻豆精品 S� she said.聽 麻豆精品 S淭his is really a novel way to introduce the students to critical thinking and putting the pieces of the puzzle together. 麻豆精品 S�

The UCF medical students diagnosed illnesses including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, lung cancer and Cushing 麻豆精品 S檚 disease. They arrived at their conclusions based on visual evidence, biopsies and other tissue samples examined under a microscope. After each presentation, the judges revealed the patient 麻豆精品 S檚 official cause of death and students were graded based on the accuracy of their findings.

At the end of the day, two teams were selected as winners. The first was Group 7, whose members were: Adam Almaguer, Deeva Berera, Davd Cantu, David Griffin, Kirstin LaBell and Jennifer Loftus . The other winning team was Group 5: Christal Crooks, Lauren Furman, Errol Inci, Shannon Moore, Jeffrey Peacock, Matthew Schwenke and Pouya Shoolizadeh.

Each winning team member will take home a cash prize, thanks to a generous donation to the College of Medicine. While there could only be two winning teams, anatomy professor Dr. Andrew Payer applauded all the hard work, analysis and spirit of inquiry that went into the reports.聽 麻豆精品 S淥ur goal is to make sure students aren 麻豆精品 S檛 just learning for the sake of learning, 麻豆精品 S� he said. 麻豆精品 S淏ecause they are going to be physicians, we want them to apply this information to the patients they 麻豆精品 S檒l be working with in the future. 麻豆精品 S�

Unlike most medical schools, UCF doesn 麻豆精品 S檛 tell first-year students how their cadaver died. Instead, students must play detective during their 17 weeks in a state-of-the-art anatomy lab run by Professor Andrew Payer. During lab, students scrutinize the organ systems, pathologies and even cell samples of their first patient, the remains of people who have willed their bodies to science.

This year, Payer invited the renowned Dr. G to participate in judging the autopsy reports. 麻豆精品 S淎s medical examiner, Dr. Garavaglia serves our community in everything she does, 麻豆精品 S� said Dr. Deborah German, vice president for medical affairs and dean of the College of Medicine. 麻豆精品 S淲e are honored she has volunteered to share her expertise with our students. 麻豆精品 S�

After each presentation, Dr. Garavaglia read the patient 麻豆精品 S檚 actual death certificate. In one instance, the students believed their patient had died of ischemic heart failure. 麻豆精品 S淚n looking at the death certificate, I wish this doctor would have consulted with you, 麻豆精品 S� she said. 麻豆精品 S淗e just put down everything he knew about the patient 麻豆精品 S� hypertension, diabetes, cardiac arrhythmia 麻豆精品 S� and figured one of those must have caused his death. 麻豆精品 S�

Dr. Garavaglia presented the top award to Team 13 麻豆精品 S� Students Galal Elsayed, Giorgio Guiulfo, Michelle Hidalgo, Rikin Patel, Erin Purdy, Morgan Stines and Megan Vu, who found that their patient, a 55-year-old woman, had died from pneumonia related to lung cancer.

After the awards, Dr. Garavaglia attended a reception and posed for pictures with students and members of the College of Medicine 麻豆精品 S檚 Assessment Team, who tallied the scores of the autopsy reports. Dr. G 麻豆精品 S檚 response to the day of forensic reports: 麻豆精品 S淭oday I was so impressed, 麻豆精品 S� she said.

Parsons, director of Anatomical Facilities at the medical school, is spreading the word through talks with local groups and unveiled the outreach plan to colleagues November 29.

麻豆精品 S淚 get calls every day about the program, 麻豆精品 S� she said.

UCF is one of three medical schools in Florida that is state-approved to receive willed bodies to train medical students. Until a year ago, people who wanted to will their bodies to medical science had to have their remains sent to the University of Florida in Gainesville or the University of Miami. Through its approved receiving sites, the Anatomical Board of Florida provides donated bodies for the training of physicians, dentists, physician assistants, and other health workers.

麻豆精品 S淭he procedure for donating a body is simple, 麻豆精品 S澛燩arsons said.

A donor, who must be 18 or older, fills out a dedication form stating his or her wishes. Copies of 麻豆精品 S淚nstructions to Survivors 麻豆精品 S� should be given to relatives and close friends so that the donor 麻豆精品 S檚 wishes are known. The donor or family then contacts a funeral home to arrange for handling of the body and transportation to Orlando. Funeral-home expenses are paid by the family, but the Anatomical Board assumes costs for storage, cremation and final disposal of the cremains.

Bodies are kept for up to two years for medical education and research, Parsons said. Bodies are then cremated, and the ashes returned to the family, or the family may choose to have the ashes spread over the Gulf of Mexico.

Individuals who donate their bodies make a real difference in the education of medical students, said Dr. Andrew Payer, professor of anatomy and director of the College of Medicine 麻豆精品 S檚 Willed-Body Program.

麻豆精品 S淐omputer modeling can 麻豆精品 S檛 account for all the differences among human bodies, 麻豆精品 S� Dr. Payer said, adding the Willed-Body Program 麻豆精品 S減rovides a richer learning experience for students. 麻豆精品 S�

Details about the willed-body program can be found at med.ucf.edu/giving/willed-body-program/. Groups interested in having聽Parsons talk with them can contact her at 407.266.1142 or Jennifer.Parsons@ucf.edu.

In a send-off ceremony that is a medical school tradition at the end of Anatomy Lab, the 60 M-1 students lit candles, presented white roses and spoke about the 麻豆精品 S減recious souls 麻豆精品 S� who had not only taught them science, but also important lessons about life, death and giving back.

At first, 麻豆精品 S渨e were frightened to meet you, 麻豆精品 S� said M-1 Omar Shakeel as he described the four-month Anatomy Lab. 麻豆精品 S淭hen you began to teach us. You had the answers to our questions. We are grateful for the lessons we will have for the rest of our lives and will be used to save others one day. 麻豆精品 S�

In opening the ceremony, Class of 2014 President Robert Palmer asked classmates to 麻豆精品 S渞emember the sacrifice these patients made for us. 麻豆精品 S� M-1 Social Chair Christina Hsu read a tribute written by a Connecticut medical school professor whose mother donated her body to science. The professor had mixed feelings about the donation but realized that her mother 麻豆精品 S檚 decision illustrated her love of education and science and her belief that a single person can make a difference. 麻豆精品 S淪tudy me hard, 麻豆精品 S� the writer said her mother would tell young medical students.

Faculty members compared the send-off ceremony to how they had left Anatomy Lab years ago. There was no chance to reflect, no closure, no chance to express gratitude for the patient 麻豆精品 S檚 dedicated gift to helping others. Dr. Jim Sanders, who spoke for Anatomy Professor Andrew Payer, told of a young man dying of a brain tumor who donated his body to Dr. Payer 麻豆精品 S檚 medical school lab in Galveston, Texas. Dr. Payer talks frequently about the terminally ill young man and the message he wanted Dr. Payer to give to his medical students: 麻豆精品 S淭ell them I 麻豆精品 S檓 a good guy and I hope they learn a lot from me. 麻豆精品 S�

Dr. Richard Peppler, associate dean for faculty and academic affairs, asked the medical students to remember that the donors were 麻豆精品 S渇athers, mothers, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles. Celebrate what they have contributed to your education. 麻豆精品 S�

As a permanent tribute to the donors, the Class of 2014 will place a brick in the future piazza at the College of Medicine. The brick will be inscribed with these words:聽 麻豆精品 S淏eyond flesh, you are woven into the fabric of our future. Beyond words, your spirit is threaded through our lives. 麻豆精品 S�

Dr. German hosted the tour, telling the college’s benefactors that the upstart medical school offered UCF the opportunity “to do it right” with technology that “surpasses the technology of any medical school in the country.”

The Tavistock Group saw plenty of that technology, including digital slides in the Microscopy Lab, touch-screen computers above dissection tables in the Anatomy Lab and the Harriet F. Ginsburg Health Sciences Library, which is 98 percent digital.

“Students want instant access to information,” explained College of Medicine Professor Andrew Payer as he welcomed the visitors to “the anatomy lab of my dreams.”

Rasesh “Sesh” Thakkar, CEO of the Tavistock Group, talked about the company’s commitment to the College of Medicine and the emerging medical city at Lake Nona. Medical city will strengthen the area’s economy and supply needed jobs and other opportunities, he said. “The region will never be the same again.”

Students were asked to determine a cause of death for each of their patients. Professor Andrew Payer then compared the students’ findings with the official cause of death for each cadaver.

Dr. Payer praised the students for their thoughtful and professional work and noted the delighted looks from fellow clinical professors as they watched the presentations. “You did us proud,” he told the charter class. Dr. Payer noted that the autopsy reports were a major project for students with only 28 weeks of medical training, adding that the assignment tested their observation, interpretation and research skills.

The students presented their findings to a crowd of more than 70 that included faculty members, Dean Deborah German and College of Medicine staff. Part of the presentation included an examination of lifestyle factors that may have caused patient conditions such as heart disease, skin lesions and emphysema. The students repeatedly expressed respect for the donated cadavers. A group of students whose patient was an 84-year-old artist specifically included artwork in their PowerPoint presentation to honor her.

Medical student Lynn McGrath thanked faculty members “for being in the trenches with us” during the project, saying that one-on-one help from faculty helped students immediately get oriented on ways to use laboratory work to learn anatomy and disease.

Medical student Shawna Bellew said the exercise helped the class understand the wide variety of resources available in determining risk factors and treatments. “It taught us what you do as a physician when you need to determine what’s wrong with someone,” she said. “It taught us how to find out.”

This was the students’ first opportunity to work as a medical team to document observations on their “first patient” and report their findings to their peers, faculty and staff. The students also had the opportunity to answer questions about their findings.