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Latest News
| Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Human bodies: donation for medicine and research*
On 11 October, the Nuffield Council will publish a report on the ethical issues
that arise when people are asked to donate bodily material, such as
organs, blood, eggs, sperm and whole bodies, for medicine and
research. The report will consider two questions:
1. How far should society go in trying to encourage people to donate their bodily material?
2. What is the role of the government and others in responding to
the demand for bodily material?
To mark the launch, a public seminar will take place on 11 October,
14:00-17:00, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Members of the Working Party who produced the report, and invited guests, will
discuss the report’s conclusions and recommendations. Find out more and
register for the launch seminar :
More Information
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Call From The Membership Secretary
It is that time of year again membership renewal! Even if you pay by standing order, please don't forget to send in your current points upgrade form. This way you will be allocated your correct points and we can keep up with any detail changes you may have.
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Another Double Fellow
Congratulations to our Chairman Steve Gaze who has achieved enough membership points to be a double fellow. Thanks for your dedication.
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Congratulations
Congratulations to our Vice President Prof. Ceri Davies who has been appointed as
Inspector of Anatomy for the Republic of Ireland.
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Spring Scientific Meeting 2011
Due to Cardiff not being available until 2012, the spring scientific meeting was hosted by, Imperial College London (Charing x campus, Hammersmith). After apologies were made on behalf of those unable to attend.
The first talk was by Prof Davies, about Imperial’s graduate entry level medical course.
The talk that followed on was about the enormous collection of invaluable neural
tissue coined the Corsellis Brain Collection gathered over 50 years ago. Dr Matt Williams delivered a gripping historical tale of the swings and
roundabouts of saving material that seemed to jump from a side line of a clinician, to a sought
after source of pathology, to a potential biohazard with no place to go. It will be a great shame if
these specimens are not saved. It came as a great surprise that none of the UK based
government bodies or charities wished to be any further involved in maintaining this
anatomical treasure.
The next scheduled talk on retrieving implants by Dr Alister Hart was delayed at this point due
to Dr Hart having been caught up in surgery. So instead it was decided to hold the AGM a little
early, which was presided over by Steve Franey, who kindly agreed to stand in for the absent
Chair and Vice Chairs.
With excellent timing, Dr Hart arrived from surgery just after the AGM closed. His talk was a
great mix of clinical and analytical, and in an encouraging turn of events his presentation
concluded with a request for the help of us anatomists to aid in solving the problem of why
implants fail.
The meeting broke for lunch and Vin Chauhan had arranged a marvellous spread, curry all round. It was well received by all.
After lunch the meeting continued, the next two talks were almost intimately related, and both Sarah Jones and Dr Ann Sandison
delivered heart warming and noble talks on how their work; especially that of prosthesist Sarah
benefits and improves the lives of so many patients with head and neck trauma such as loss of
ears and facial tissue resulting from cancers. The process of constructing these facial prosthetic
was fascinating, and the level of detail and artistic touches was superb.
We ended the presentation part of the day with Laurence Clarke explaining the criteria of
bequesting, with particular focus on all the nasty bugs and prions that often exclude cadavers
from use.
The day as a whole ended with the obligatory tour of the dissection room and another chance to schmooze, network, catch up with friends, and
peruse the catalogues and wares of the visiting vendors.
A big congratulations
to Steve Franey, Vin Chauhan, Prof Davies and the whole Imperial team for having organised
such a well run event and for stepping in at a very late hour to
host the AGM and the Spring Meeting 2011.
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New Flyer for the IAS competitions
To help promote the IAS prize competition, a flyer has been produced. Please download and distribute to any interested parties, in or around your establishment.
Is your student union aware? An entry or winning certificate can make your learning portfolio stand out from the masses.
Download the IAS prize competition flyer |
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Fellowship of the IAS
The Autumn 2010 Dublin Meeting also saw the award of the 9th and 10th Fellowships of the Institute to :-
Stephen Franey, Meetings Organiser, and Tracy Cuffe, Education Officer.
I’m sure you will join with me on congratulating them on their well earned award and in thanking them for the excellent work they do on our behalf! – Ed |
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Autumn meeting 2010 University College Dublin.
The Dublin meeting was well attended and good to see our friends and colleagues.
The Belfield campus of UCD is a short ride out of central Dublin.
The Health Sciences Centre looked very impressive, brand new and done to a very high standard. Gary and his colleagues gave a warm welcome and provided the delegates with a great welcome pack.
Professor Banningan, who has been at UCD for 40 years, welcomed us to the School of Medicine and Medical Sciences. In his address he encouraged us to be alert and challenge the reformers of anatomy teaching, ask them “why do we need to change”?
Professor Hooper told us the story of Anatomy in Dublin, which was a topic he was obviously very passionate about. It was a fascinating talk as he discussed many famous anatomists and surgeons, Vesalius, Dun, Petty, Boyle, Cleghorn, Colles and many more, and how they contributed to the world of Anatomy. Also mentioned were the Dublin Resurrectionists and the large export trade of bodies to the UK for dissection. It was a fantastically detailed history of Anatomy in Dublin, Professor Hooper really knows his stuff! He ended his talk on a good note stating that he believes the death of anatomy is over, and putting up this following statement from the Anatomy Act 1832.
The next talk was a first for the IAS. One of UCD donor’s, Mrs O, talked to us about why and how she decided to register with the body donation scheme. This was a real insight and a great opportunity for the members as she spoke very honestly and openly, about herself and her family, and answered all of our questions. It was good for the IAS to realise what is important to donors and their families, and what the preconceived ideas are about body donation. Thank you Mrs O for telling us your story.
After a coffee break we resumed the afternoon talks. Mr Tattersall, an Audio Visual and IT Technologist, spoke to the Institute on how technology provides additional benefits when teaching anatomy, but not to be used as a replacement for traditional methods. His presentation was very informative and useful to us all.
Our last talk on Thursday “Talking Bones”, introduced us to the anthroplogy based modules provided at UCD. Dr O’Connor gave an interesting account of the past and current research and case work done by School of Medical Sciences.
Garry and his colleagues looked after us well and took us the Arlington Hotel for a gorgeous three course meal. After dessert and a few more glasses of wine we were treated to a live Irish band which took requests!! But then they made their own request..................
.... Dee to play the spoons!!
Following Dee and her spoons was some superb Irish dancing.
Friday morning was kicked off by another first for the IAS. Dr. Cornwall spoke to us via weblink from New Zealand. Dr Cornwall is in contact with UCD due to a worldwide body donor survey he has produced. The main focus of his presentation was actually about the problems he has encountered during this study. Overall there is a lack of co-operation from other body donor programmes, which are unwilling to complete his questionnaire. Most of his results at present are based on questionnaires returned from UCD and Cape Town University.
Ms Meskell is a lecturer in the UCD School of Nursing. She took us through the programme and explained why there is an increasing need for nurses to know their anatomy due to developing medical procedures and techniques. It was an eye-opening talk as often anatomy for nurses gets sidelined, most nursing students learn entirely from textbooks and surface anatomy. We also learnt a thing or two from Dr Patten who has introduced the use of ultrasound in anatomy teaching. There has been a lot of positive feedback from their students, although it is an expensive piece of equipment!
Before our tour of the centre, Garry Perry gave his personal account of his role as the Bequest Officer. He talked honestly about what he thinks are the most important areas of the donor programme and how him and his team do things in Ireland. It was interesting to hear once again how procedures are so variable in each of our medical schools.
We were taken to the family room, where relatives are welcome to pay their respects before the casket is removed to the embalming room. It was obvious to see that Garry and his colleagues found it important to make the donor’s family and friends as comfortable as possible about the process.
During the tour of UCD’s shiny new dissection room, we were able to study the competition entries. The entries were of the usual high standards and a good turn out especially for the new student category.
We also had a good look around the museum which contained the large collection of primate, hominid and human skeletons.
Back in the lecture theatre we treated to two more talks. The first on teaching and learning platforms was an interactive talk by Dr Last, reflecting on the medical student profile and what they expect of us as teachers of anatomy. The second talk by Ms Butler was an insight into how cadavers are very useful for radiographic research and also what the diagnostic imaging suite is used for in the centre.
Following the talks the prize competition winners were announced.
The meeting closed with a massive thanks to Garry and his colleagues, who really did spoil us and did a tremendous job!
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Spring Meeting 2010 Kings College, London
Good to see all who made it to London last week for
the AGM and Collaborative meeting with ASGBI, BACA.
Firstly can I congratulate Steve Franey and his team
for putting together a fantastic meeting and to Prof
Jon Clarke and all at Kings College for making us
very welcome...both days were well attended and the
programme, facilities and socialising were again top
notch...well done Steve, I was extremely proud to be
the Chairman of the Institute!
On that subject...for those that couldn't make the
AGM...although I had tendered my resignation from
the Chair, there were no nominees to fill the post.
Having considered this might be a possibility prior
to the meeting I spoke with John Ben and Dave Wilson
to gauge their views. All three of us considered
that we should propose a new Vice Chair post that
will act as a 'Chairman elect' for a year or two's
time. Wendy Birch was approached by me and
thankfully Wendy accepted being nominated as VC! I
duly proposed the suggestion at AGM and the meeting
unanimously agreed...So congratulations Wendy! As
for the other vacant posts... we welcome Kim Huxley
as our new Secretary...congratulations to you also
Kim! Webmaster was again unfilled and I have agreed
to be interim liaison with Robert Clayson over
content on the site whilst Don Farr has kindly
agreed to act as interim liaison for registering new
members on to the Members only area until we have a
replacement.
Many thanks again to Don and Kate for their
contributions to Council...both will be missed.
Kate's last official duty was stepping in for Terry
Williamson and taking the minutes of the AGM, so a
full report of the meeting will be on its way
shortly.
Thursday afternoon began with the AGM…business out
of the way we settled into the afternoon’s
presentations…all of which were extremely
stimulating. Kirsty Thomson was first up giving us
an insight into how the Dissecting Room at Kings
functions with so many students through its doors
each year. Kirsty was followed by Bill Edwards
pondering the future and some of the past of Medical
Museums…Bill is the keeper of the Gordon Museum at
Kings and we were very fortunate indeed to be
holding the afternoon session in the museum, having
the opportunity to look around its collections. Prof
Harold Ellis rounded off the afternoon session with
a fascinating look back through history at the
relationship between Anatomy and Art.
Thursday evening was as you would expect at an IAS
Scientific meeting a very sociable affair!!
Conference dinner was held at Browns Restaurant on
the south bank of the Thames… Excellent surroundings
supplemented by a delicious meal in great company…a
great environment to network with colleagues from
around the globe. A special mention in particular at
this point for James Ting…James won the prize for
the longest trip to attend the meeting, coming all
the way from Hong Kong!
Friday was always going to be a unique event. The
first time ever the three Societies that represent
our profession had gathered. IAS, ASGBI and BACA
have been collaborating over issues affecting us all
for the past 18 months under the banner of the
Memorandum of Understanding that was signed in 2008…
and it seemed the most natural progression to hold a
Tripartite meeting for all memberships to attend.
We were welcomed once again by Prof Clarke from
Kings College who introduced the first speaker Dr
Chris Birkett, Head of Regulation, HTA. Chris gave
an overview of some of the Authorities activities
since its inception followed by an update on phase 2
Inspections of premises. Bill Wrigley, my colleague
at the University of Bristol was up next to talk
about the Fresh/Frozen cadaveric facilities he has
been developing at Bristol…how the cadavers are used
for Post Graduate Surgical training courses with
particular attention to many of the health and
safety implications. Prof Roger Soames, University
of Dundee was the last speaker of the morning and
kept the theme of preservation techniques in the
Dissection room by talking about the Thiel method of
fixation and plastination. Both of these
preservation techniques are being practiced at
Dundee by Roger and his staff with some excellent
results.
The afternoon sessions were of a different format,
being panel sessions. Each session/topic was
introduced and then opened to the floor for
discussion. The topics were: Generic body bequest
forms/paperwork, Promotion of the body bequest
scheme to the general public, ASGBI Anatomy training
programme, Rationalisation/collation of standard
operating procedures (SOP’S), Proposed EU/HSE
reduction in allowed levels of formaldehyde,
Proposed bi-annual paperwork that would update the
HTA with any changes to practices/procedures,
Proposed changes to the HTA licensing fee structure.
As you might imagine a lively discussion ensued for
the duration of the afternoon sessions…and I am
pleased to report that there was also a great deal
of consensus from the floor as to the way forward on
many of the issues. Many of the outcomes of the
discussions will be picked up by the Professional
Guidelines and Practices (Anatomy) committee and
acted upon accordingly.
The meeting was closed with final thoughts from Prof
Susan Standring, Dr Louise Scheuer and myself all
echoing what a huge success the event had been… the
first of its kind but definitely not the last!
Steve Gaze
Chairman IAS
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I.A.S.
Scientific Meeting at
HYMS September 10th/11th
2009
The meeting at Hull was
blessed with superb weather. Included are a few
photographs just to whet your appetite for the
reports to be written of the event. I enjoyed the
venue and the talks on the Thursday, I was only able
to attend
on the Thursday due to
a funeral, on the Friday, of a school colleague the
same age as myself. I had previously promised to
take the widow of another school mate who died last
year, and could not, nor did I want to, back out of it.
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Belfast May 2009.
Around Christmas 2008 Queens University Belfast contacted
the IAS asking whether we could collect around 1500 potted
museum specimens under the pot reclamation scheme. Bit of
history here – in the late 1980’s John Ben had the foresight
to apply for a Wellcome grant to facilitate taking museum
pots from establishments that wanted to dispose of them,
then renovating the pots and finally issuing the pots to new
schools, or establishments wanting to set up museums. John
generously and unselfishly awarded the grant to the IAS and
operated the reclamation scheme in the name of the IAS. I
was the grateful Chairman of the IAS at that time.
Many years later the IAS is responsible for possibly 10,000
museum pots stored around the country and in use in some of
the newer Medical Schools. Steve Gaze has masterminded a new
grant application with the full weight of the University of
Bristol and the University of Cork to gain funds to
establish technical posts, to continue the reclamation
scheme and to arrange long-term storage of material. This
application is in the process of being submitted.
Back to this year. Eventually the IAS was able to respond
positively to Belfast and last Tuesday I took a truck from
Bristol, loaded with six 250kg wheelie bins for collection
of the material. (250kg equates to roughly ¼ ton in real
money!)
The trip up to Liverpool was excellent, the overnight ferry
very comfortable, however, the next day was windy, wet and
chilly.
The timing of the ferry meant arrival in the Anatomy
Department at 07.00a.m and very soon we were loading the
truck with the help of many members of the Department. The
six wheelie bins were filled, the additional domestic
‘green’ bin was loaded with pots that were leaking, plus
getting on for 50 cardboard boxes full of pots. By lunchtime
all was done and a most enjoyable lunch revived us.
The afternoon comprised an open top bus tour of Belfast
(fortunately the rain had stopped), which was most
enjoyable.
Some hours later at the Ferry Terminal, and having watched
the first half, and part of the second half of the
Manchester United Barcelona game in a drivers waiting room,
we loaded the ferry for the homeward bound trip.
Liverpool was ‘interesting’ at our arrival at 06.30a.m
The journey back down the M62, M6 and M5 was uneventful and
soon I had arrived back at Bristol and we unloaded the
truck.
Close to 1650 specimens in total were bought back and will
be gratefully received into the IAS reclamation scheme,
hopefully eventually being issued to other Departments for
teaching use, also allowing unique potential use for further
histological investigation.
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Don
leaving Bristol for Belfast
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First sight of Belfast |
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When rain cleared
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Picture
of team having finished loading and lunch |
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Harland
Wolff dockyard crane - nicknamed Samson
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Liverpool skyline
at 6.30 a.m. |
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Don and Kate
thinking about starting to unload |
Truck
full |
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Where
do we start? |
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Liverpool
 After
a chat in the sunshine, it was back to the city
centre for some food and write-up of reports, before
heading off in our separate directions once again.
It was a thoroughly
enjoyable day.
I
always enjoy meeting other IAS members and having a
look around their departments; it’s always
interesting to see how “other people do things” and
both John and I could see the cogs turning in
Steve’s head while Rachel showed us her cadaver
hoist!
Hopefully loads more people will apply for the new
CATS qualification, enabling us to go to visit more
places.
Tracy Cuffe
IAS Education Officer
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Memorandum of Understanding between IAS,
ASGBI and BACA
On Friday February 27th I attended a meeting at
Kings College London with the president of the
Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland
(ASGBI), Professor Susan Standring, and the
president of the British Association of Clinical
Anatomists (BACA), Dr Louise Scheuer. The purpose of
the meeting was threefold; to continue discussion
and finalise agreements on Professional Practices
and Guidelines for the Anatomy Sector, to sign a
collaborative response to the HTA’s proposed licence
fee increase, but most importantly in my view, to
sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the
three societies.
I believe the MoU between IAS, BACA and ASGBI to be
a major step forward for the Anatomy Sector in the
UK heralding a ‘partnership’ between the societies
that will lead to many more collaborations on issues
that affect us all. The agreement stresses that this
is an equal partnership that will work towards
promoting each other’s activities throughout the
year, whilst maintaining our own independent view
represented by our membership. The IAS has always
been proud of the diverse professional nature of its
 membership attracting staff from both medical and
veterinary, anatomy and pathology, technical and
academic backgrounds, and also related anatomical
sciences and healthcare fields.
I feel that the projects we have been working on
together over the past year indicate that the
partnership will be a beneficial one, continuing
into the future, enabling us to have a strong
collective voice when dealing with issues of
National and International concern.
I will of course be inviting the presidents, or
their representatives, of both ASGBI and BACA to our
next scientific meeting in Liverpool on April
16th/17th. I hope as many of the membership as
possible will attend to meet and greet our guests on
the day. I look forward to seeing you all in April.
Steve Gaze
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MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
Between
The Anatomical Society of Great Britain and
Ireland
And
The British Association of Clinical
Anatomists
And
The Institute of Anatomical Sciences
Objectives
The Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland
and the British Association of Clinical Anatomists
and the Institute of Anatomical Sciences (The
Partners) recognise the need for a strong collective
professional voice both nationally and
internationally in order to promote anatomy and,
where appropriate, to influence change, for the
benefit of all their members.
Implementation
In order to deliver these common objectives, The
Partners wish to establish an effective working
relationship.
The following actions, to be implemented by The
Partners, are agreed by this Memorandum of
Understanding:
1. To work together to promote all aspects of
anatomical science on a national and international
basis;
2. To work together on scientific meetings,
consultations [as exemplified by the interactions of
the members of the Professional Guidelines and
Practices (Anatomy) Committee] and relevant
recruitment campaigns;
3. To work with young bioscientists, clinicians,
technicians and other related professional staff and
encourage them to participate in the activities of
The Partners;
4. To consider the synergies of the respective
publishing activities of each Partner and to explore
mutually beneficial arrangements to promote and
distribute such publications;
5. To publicise each other’s events and endeavour to
avoid a clash of relevant individual Partner’s
meetings;
6. To make arrangements for an observer to attend
each other’s Council meetings (ASGBI and IAS only:
BACA opted out from this point);
7. To invite the President/Chairman of each Society
or their representative to attend each other’s
Conferences and Dinners.
Duration
This Memorandum of Understanding shall be reviewed
by The Partners annually and shall expire after
three years unless specifically renewed.
Publicity
The Partners will co-ordinate and agree all external
publicity regarding the Memorandum of Understanding
and any aspects of the collaborative working.
Confidentiality
The Partners are mindful of the requirements of Data
Protection legislation and will implement any
necessary procedures regarding the sharing of
Personal Data and will further each hold
confidential any sensitive information received from
the other. Notwithstanding the above, The Partners
will retain their respective corporate identities
and control of their individual governance, finances
and administration.
Signed: …………………………………….
Susan Standring,
President, the Anatomical Society of Great Britain
and Ireland
Date ……………………………………
Signed: …………………………………..
Louise Scheuer
President, the British Association of Clinical
Anatomists
Date ……………………………………
Signed: …………………………………..
Steven Gaze,
Chairman, the Institute of Anatomical Sciences
Date …………………………………
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