Gross Anatomy Green

“Every medical student has stories about first-year gross anatomy lab. During this time, I worshipped my faculty–in awe of their knowledge and dedication. At my school, the faculty wore green lab coats that I eventually learned were recycled from long-gone faculty. When, as a second-year student, I worked as a prosector (preparer of dissections) teaching the labs myself, I got to wear my own green lab coat. I will never forget how powerful the greasy garment, embroidered with the name of a doctor who had passed long before, made me feel. This photograph shows my coat hanging after an eight-hour shift while my dissecting partner cleans up.”