Faculty Share Award for Gross Anatomy Mentoring

Raymond Dannenhoffer, PhD, associate dean for support services; John Kolega, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences; and Charles Severin, PhD, MD ’97, associate dean for medical education and admissions, were chosen for their work with students in the gross anatomy laboratory.

The three were chosen for ensuring that students view the lab as “sacred space” where donor bodies are treated with the utmost respect, said Michael Hayes, campus minister for UB’s south campus.

“They have all gone above and beyond the call to make sure that students respect the bodies that have been donated to science. If that’s not mentoring, I don’t know what is.”

Hayes, who visited the gross anatomy lab at the beginning of the academic year, said he was impressed that professors taught by example while underscoring the invaluable learning opportunity that donors offer students.

“Dr. Dannenhoffer started out by saying very pointedly: ‘You will treat everybody in this room as if they were your own grandmother,’” Hayes recalled.

Hayes cited Kolega for his gentle guidance of students through the intricate systems of the body and Severin, who is an associate professor of anatomy, for emphasizing that donors serve as students’ “greatest teachers.”

“The whole experience helps students appreciate that this is more than a dissection,” Hayes said. “This is someone who is offering them a gift, so they should treat them with respect.”

Several medical students attended the awards ceremony, held May 3 at St. Joseph University Church. First-year student CJ Cancino said he was pleased to recognize teachers who helped set the tone for his medical education at UB.

“They made it clear to us at the very beginning that there was a strict code of professionalism and conduct that we should follow,” he said. “We knew what the ground rules were, and that they were serious. They laid the groundwork by respecting the donor bodies whenever they taught.”

In accepting his award, Dannenhoffer noted that UB’s anatomical gift program, which he oversees, has more donors than any such program in New York State and is one the largest of its kind nationwide.

“I’m glad that what we’re trying to do—to honor the donors, to teach respect—is recognized, because we don’t do it for ourselves—we do it for the donors,” said Dannenhoffer, director of the gross anatomy lab. “They’re really the people who make this work.”

The Didaskalos Award has been in existence at UB since 1981. Named after the Greek word for “teacher,” it is given to members of the UB community who uphold high moral and spiritual standards in their work.