Honoring Donors Whose Generosity Helped Shape Future Doctors, Graduate Nurses

Posted in News Stories  |  Tagged anatomical donor, Anatomical Donor Mass, gross anatomy

(March 27, 2025) — On a sunny, late winter afternoon, 30 families gathered at Georgetown University’s Dahlgren Chapel for a solemn interfaith celebration and Mass honoring loved ones who had made a unique and profound gift following their deaths.

The March 18 service, an annual tradition, paid tribute to those who had contributed to medical education by donating their bodies for anatomical study. Such donations provide medical and nursing students insights into the details of human anatomy. During the service, students and faculty expressed their deep gratitude to the donors for their extraordinary gift.

“This is a gift of caring and trust, and we want to personally thank all of you for that gift and your trust,” said Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., MD, MHS, executive vice president for health sciences and executive dean of the School of Medicine. “These doctors and nurses will go on in a very short time to be healers for generations to come and with great breadth, and it is because of this gift that it’s possible.”

Shared Generosity

Speaking on behalf of the students, Adi Rao (M’27) expressed deep gratitude for the donors and their families.

“Every day, we are reminded of the generosity of our donors. Every day, their gift shapes the way we learn. And so we say thank you,” said Rao. “We call them donors because of what they’ve given us, but we all know that their generosity was also yours.”

“So from every student who went to that lab uncertain and left changed, thank you. From every person who will someday benefit from what we learned, thank you. And if I may speak on their behalf, from our future patients who will be cared for with deeper compassion and knowledge because of our donors and their families, thank you.”

Amanda Hamze (M’27) also shared her great appreciation.

“Thank you for trusting us and graciously granting us the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to treat our future patients,” she said.

Mark Burns, PhD, shared his reflections as both a neuroanatomy professor and as a donor’s family member.

“The faculty and students of Georgetown University recognize the profound nature of this decision and honor your loved one’s memory with the utmost respect and appreciation,” he said. “Please know that their selfless contribution has made a difference in ways that will continue to reverberate for decades to come.”

A Life Complete

Catherine Bellon of Riverhead, New York, traveled to Georgetown with her siblings to honor their father, who died two years ago. She described him as an incredibly kind, generous, funny and humble man who warmed people’s hearts and brought a smile to their faces. Still, she said, she and her siblings felt that something was left undone about his life until the Mass at Georgetown.

“Our father’s final wishes were to donate his body, not have a traditional funeral, and to honor him with a celebration of life with friends and family, joy and laughter,” she said. “All of these were done, yet nearly two years since our father passed, we continued to feel something was missing.”

Bellon said during the Mass, her family felt their father’s presence as the students processed into the chapel.

“The words spoken as reflections and prayers brought us serenity we had not anticipated,” she said. “The ceremony was beautiful in every way. Yet, it was the presence of the students that made the ceremony complete.

“Because of the ceremony on Tuesday, we all agreed: Dad’s life is now complete.”