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. …

On Friday, January 25, 2013, my classmates and I prepared for a ceremony of remembrance, a ceremony which would represent our sentiments of honor and solemn appreciation of the lives and selfless acts of donation to the medical field of the men and women who were our anatomical donors. Over a nine-week course, we spent countless hours in the anatomy lab studying the human body from the inside out. Among our tools in mastering the …

It was Wednesday, August 4, 2010, a day I will never forget. I woke up that morning in anticipation of meeting a new friend who I had never met before. Up until this point, this friend was only in my dreams; I only had imagined how he would look, how old he would be, or where he would be from–let alone a multitude of other questions. Today was the day when I would meet this mystery …

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 …