You give many gifts in your lifetime but there is one special gift that will make a significant and lasting contribution: the gift of donating your body to medical science through the Virginia Department of Health's State Anatomical Program.
Donation is a gift of education to the many hundreds of doctors, nurses and other health professionals studying in Virginia’s medical schools, colleges and universities who must learn how the human body is constructed before they can successfully treat living patients. No models, films or books can substitute for the actual study of the human body itself.
VDH’s State Anatomical Program is the only entity in Virginia authorized to receive donations of human bodies for scientific study. The primary mission of the State Anatomical Program is to educate health professionals providing human donors for the teaching of anatomy and surgery and for medical research.
The State Anatomical Program understands that donors and families of the deceased may have many reservations, questions and concerns about donation. You can find the answers to many of these issues in the Questions and Answers Brochure of the Virginia State Anatomical Program. If you have other questions, please feel free to contact the State Anatomical Program directly at 804.786.2479.