Perkiomen School Students Work with St. Luke’s Neurosurgeons at Cadaver Workshop

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perk school student cadaver class 2022
Images via Perkiomen School.
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Most high school students interested in a medical career usually need to wait until a college or medical school anatomy class to study and dissect a human cadaver.

Not so for students of Perkiomen School, a college preparatory, boarding, and day school located in Pennsburg, Pa.

St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) neurosurgeons dissected human torso cadavers to teach 15 students from the Perkiomen School’s Medical Institute about the anatomy, physiology, injuries, and diseases and treatment of the human spine on January 29 at the Venel Institute in Bethlehem.

This day-long, hands-on workshop featured St. Luke’s neurosurgical spine specialists Doron Rabin, MD, Chief of Neurosurgery, and Hugh Moulding, MD, Director of St. Luke’s Brain and Spine Tumor Center.

cadaver workshop

“This was an exciting opportunity for us to teach in-depth knowledge about the spine to the next generation of healthcare professionals who may be taking care of us in the future,” says Dr. Rabin. “We are honored to interact with these inspired teens from the school’s Medical Institute.”

He and Dr. Moulding dissected cadavers to reveal to students the muscles, bones, nerves, and spinal cord. Students had up-close views of the preserved torsos and be able to dissect them with guidance from the physicians. The doctors also described common injuries and diseases of the spine and explains a range of treatment options, including surgery.

“We discussed the training we went through to become spine surgeons,” adds Dr. Moulding. “By explaining how we decide which treatment is appropriate, given symptoms and pathology of a condition, students can gain insight into  our day-to-day activities as St. Luke’s neurosurgeons.”

According to the school’s director of its Medical Institute, Jeffrey Rodgers, PhD, “This kind of hands-on experience is exciting and educational for our students, and we are grateful to Drs. Rabin and Moulding for sharing their knowledge and skills with our young learners. Past workshops have sparked or affirmed students’ interest in pursuing a medical career after high school.”

The Medical Institute encourages students, interested in Medical and STEM professions, by giving them opportunities to interact with professionals and providing them with hands-on learning experiences such as the spine cadaver course.

In 2019, Ryan Dao, now a senior at the school, attended a cadaver course on the brain taught by St. Luke’s neurosurgeon Daniel O’Rourke, MD. The Quakertown resident, recalls the experience as “enriching and remarkable.”

“From the discussions to participating in dissections of the human head, it inspired me to focus my medical research project on neuroscience, and I aspire to explore this field further in college.”

To find out more about academics and other information on Perkiomen School, click here.

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