What kind of person decides to become a body donor? Does such an individual belong to a particular group or do they come from all walks of life? And what do these altruistic individuals have in common with each other?
Finding out these answers is not only important for understanding who it is that contributes to our anatomy teaching and research but should also give us clues about how best to sustain a successful body donation programme.
This is particularly important at a time when many medical schools are struggling to recruit enough body donors and, as a result, have in some cases even abandoned human dissection as an aid to learning and researching anatomy.
The University of Otago has a proud tradition of offering its medical, dental, and science students the opportunity to learn anatomy from human dissection. But it's not just these groups who benefit.
More senior health professionals such as surgeons and physiotherapists also use this invaluable resource to advance their understanding of anatomy.
In addition, the Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology runs a busy anatomical research programme; current investigations include topics such as joint structure, muscle function, and bile duct anatomy.
This multi-centre, international study of body donors being coordinated by Dr. Jon Cornwall and Prof. Mark Stringer involves the Otago School of Medical Sciences, as well as medical schools in South Africa and Ireland.
All new body donors registering in 2010 are being invited to comment on their ethnic, socioeconomic, occupational, educational, political, and social backgrounds.
Donors are also being asked about the reasons behind their decision to donate their body, and with whom they discussed their decision.
The study is being funded by a research grant from the University of Otago, and the researchers hope to have the results available by early 2011.
Dr Jon Cornwall & Professor Mark Stringer
Department of Anatomy & Structural Biology