This 2023-2024 academic year has been the first in which Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) has decided to coordinate its own body donation program. Under the slogan “Thanks to You”, they seek to improve the training of medical students thanks to donors. Anatomy is an essential discipline in this career, and being able to see a human body from the inside ensures that future doctors are better prepared.
The donation is an anonymous and entirely altruistic act, without any economic compensation, but it greatly contributes to the learning of medical students. They also learn with virtual reality and clinical simulation, but being able to handle a scalpel, cut, dissect, see nerves, muscles, organs… is ultimately a vital resource for student training that would not be possible without the donors’ gesture.
“Without this act, it would not be possible to improve the training of future medical professionals”.
Joan Ramon Masclans, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences at UPF.
To become a donor, you only need to be of legal age, contact UPF by phone or email, and schedule an appointment to complete the process in person at the university’s Campus Mar. There, you receive personalized advice and sign the affiliation to the program accompanied by a witness signature. Once the process is complete, the donor should inform their friends and family so that, in the future, their will can be respected. When the time comes, the UPF coordinates the process. The body of the donor is transported (as long as it is within the metropolitan area of Barcelona) to the university, where students can learn. If there is no capacity to accommodate the body, it can be transferred to another Faculty of Medicine in Spain, and once the use is complete, the remains are cremated.
In short, donating your body to science is an altruistic act that benefits the learning of future health professionals and now, it is also possible to do it at UPF.
