Editor’s note: This article was originally published here by contributing writer Samantha Margulies. We take exams. We take patient histories. We may or may not go to class. We study… a lot. Before all of this, however, we were newly inducted first-year medical students, and Dr. Slaby introduced our class to our very first patients. They would become our best study buddies. While he spoke to us and explained how class would work, I thought about their families—you. …

Editor’s note: This article was originally published here by contributing writer Samantha Margulies. I have seen dead bodies before. Two of my grandparents had open caskets. I have previously visited two cadaver labs–once during a medical school tour and once visiting a friend at medical school. Similar to seeing my grandparents, I feel a pull into the lab to see the cadaver I will soon dissect. The entire class of 2016 walks into the gross anatomy lab after …