Light-filled, state-of-the-art Michael Jaharis Jr., M87P, H15 Anatomy Laboratory is dedicated at the School of Medicine
Things just got a lot brighter for Tufts medical students. No longer will they have to practice dissection in a windowless, cramped basement: Today marks the opening of the new light-filled, state-of-the-art Michael Jaharis Jr., M87P, H15 Anatomy Laboratory—the Michael J. Anatomy Lab, for short. Made possible by a $15 million gift from the Jaharis Family Foundation, the facility is named for Michael Jaharis Jr., the longtime chairman of the School of Medicine’s Board of Advisors and a university trustee, who passed away in 2016.
“During the study of gross anatomy, medical students meet their first ‘patient,’” said School of Medicine Dean Harris Berman. “With this wonderful new laboratory, we will be able to integrate technology and interactive learning with the classic anatomy dissection experience to better prepare our students to become great clinicians.”
The modern lab—which also provides anatomical training for dental and physician assistant students—moved from the basement of the M&V Building to a third-floor space with ample natural light. At nearly twice the size, it increases the square feet per student from sixteen to thirty—and now there will be five students per dissection table, rather than six.
The lab has computer screens at every table, updated ventilation and lighting systems, and dedicated changing areas and locker rooms. An adjacent Technology Enabled Active Learning classroom, based on a design by MIT, has room for up to sixty students to work at stations set up for interacting with each other and their instructor.
To outfit the space, the Jaharis Family Foundation encouraged other donors to give to a Clinical Skills and Medical Education Technology Fund by naming spaces and sponsoring tables. The fund will help equip both the anatomy lab and the Clinical Skills and Simulation Center with equipment such as portable ultrasound machines and GoPro cameras, as well as provide additional faculty support.
Through the years, donations from the Jaharis Family Foundation have established an endowed professorship in family medicine and scholarships—including the Jaharis Family Loan Reduction Scholarship for Family Medicine—and transformed Tufts’ Health Sciences campus through large-scale construction projects. To honor their generosity, Berman presented members of the family with Dean’s Medals at the opening event on December 14, which also kicked off the school’s 125th anniversary celebration.
Courtney Hollands can be reached at courtney.hollands@tufts.edu.
