Update from the Anatomical Donor Stewardship (ADS) Committee

The gross anatomy lab is a place where students can fall in love with the human body and where anatomical relationships materialize for the first time. The HAPS Anatomical Donor Stewardship Committee (ADS), previously known as the Cadaver Use Committee, is committed to helping HAPS members learn best practices for dissection, gross anatomy lab design, gross anatomy education, and human body donor stewardship. In order to better facilitate the advancement of gross anatomy instructors and labs, our committee has developed the ADS Support Team, which is a network of HAPS members who are experts in different gross anatomy specialties (e.g., dissection, lab design). These experts are then connected with HAPS members who want to learn more about the specific areas. First introduced at the HAPS Portland Annual Conference as the HAPS Dissection Mentorship Initiative, the ADS Support Team is actively recruiting individuals from within the HAPS membership interested in developing these types of coaching and mentorship relationships.

Recently, the ADS hosted several Support Team coaching and mentorship sessions which provided an overview of the goals of the Support Team, the types of coaching and mentorship available, how the coaching and mentorship process works, and the various resources available to those engaged in the program. A recording of one of these sessions is embedded here.

So, what is next? While members of the ADS support team have started to collaborate virtually and through regional dissection workshops, we hope to provide the HAPS general membership with an in-person ADS coaching experience at the upcoming Annual Conference in Albuquerque. During the ADS coaching workshop, titled Dissecting the “Heart” of the ADS Coaching Program, Support Team members will guide participants through a dissection that will explore the anatomy of the heart. Coaches will share dissection and teaching techniques so that prospective Support Team members can discover how the program may benefit them and how they may contribute as well! The workshop will have limited space so please sign up if you would like to join us in the lab at the annual conference!

Are you interested? Use the link below to sign up for the workshop or to be a coach or support team member.

If you have any questions, please contact Kelsey Stevens, ADS Chair, at kstevens@hapsconnect.org or Jeremy Grachan, ADS Support Team Sub-Committee Chair at jgrachan@hapsconnect.org.

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