For more than five decades, Logan’s anatomy lab has served as an integral part of a student’s education and provided an opportunity for others to explore, learn and gain a better understanding of the structures and complexities of the human body.
In 2018 alone, hundreds of individuals―from nurses and emergency medical technicians to optometry students―visited Logan’s anatomy lab through a program called Tour of the Body. While other universities offer an anatomy experience as a portion of a credited course or for a cost, Logan’s Tour of the Body is a free service geared toward the University’s mission to engage with the broader community.
Logan Assistant Professor Meadow Campbell, PhD, says each tour can be customized to the group’s interest, but in most cases visitors will hold organs or perform procedures, giving them a chance to either refresh their knowledge or gain a new perspective.
“The tours are quite literally and figuratively a visceral experience,” she said. “Most of the people who come through the tours have never seen or touched a human cadaver before.”
Often, people are surprised at the size of various structures and fascinated by the brain, said Dr. Campbell. “‘I’m holding all of someone’s memories, thoughts and feelings in my hand’ is a sentiment I’ve heard many times,” she said.
For more experienced visitors who have studied and/or dissected other mammals, Tour of the Body offers them a chance to relate what they know about a rat, cat or pig, for example, to a human. Dr. Campbell said this connection helps them understand their own body at a deeper level.
Upper-trimester students benefit as well, by serving as guides. Dr. Campbell said the student tour guides are highly knowledgeable about human anatomy, and they are also personable and engaging teachers with a passion to share their knowledge with the community.
“Our guides demonstrate structures, ask questions, draw connections between regions of the body and often try to tailor the tours to each individual audience,” said Dr. Campbell. “By the time our students get to the point where they could be a guide, they are often several trimesters removed from their anatomy courses, so it offers them a chance to refresh this foundational knowledge. I often hear, ‘I had no idea chiropractors had to learn this much anatomy!’”
Dr. Campbell said she doesn’t know of another program like the Logan University Tour of the Body. “It’s truly a community service, and many visitors leave with a renewed appreciation for overall health and well-being.”