Known for:

Creating and using animated images in class: “I find moving pictures occasionally useful to illustrate something kinetic, such as the dynamics of bipedal locomotion. Students seem to appreciate it when a faculty member takes the time to produce unusual, interesting teaching materials."

Why anatomy?

In graduate school, I was interested in so many things I couldn't pick one. So I picked anthropology, since it encompasses so many things: biology, culture, prehistory. Most of my work as a physical anthropologist and anatomist has been in the comparative anatomy of primates and other mammals.

Why teach?

I really enjoy listening to students ask questions, trying to figure out why they're thinking differently from how I think, and bringing the two together. A good teacher has to be a good listener.

How he developed his approach to anatomy

I myself got a C in gross anatomy. I found it one of the most painful and awful experiences in my life. If you had told me back then I would be teaching it one day, I would have flung myself out the window. So I resolved to find a new way to teach it. Understandably, many people would consider it a creepy occupation. But seeing the structures of the human body is fascinating, and it overwhelms those considerations. I like dissecting, I’m good at it, and I like teaching students how to do it.

What’s different about how gross anatomy is taught at Duke

What we do, basically, is to give students a scheme that applies to all parts of body. We present a typical body segment, then teach regions as deviations from it, and provide embryological and evolutionary material to help put those deviations in context. So we’re explaining not just how things are, but why they are the way they are. Conventionally taught anatomy is a burden on the memory, but making the facts intelligible helps keep them in your head. If you know why human beings have a muscle in this position, for example, you’re more likely to remember the muscle and where it is.

How he deals with beginning students’ concerns

We know we have to walk a delicate line in gross anatomy. We don’t want students to have such overwhelming feelings about the cadaver that they can’t proceed with dissection, but we don't want to repress their emotions. So we treat the bodies with respect, and encourage students to pay attention to how the habits of life modify the body. After about 20 minutes, most students are absorbed in their first task, busily trying to find the trapezius muscle.

Why high-tech substitutes can never replace human dissection

Dissection teaches you things you can’t learn from verbal formulas or visual representations. There is a kinesthetic aspect to dissecting a body for which there is no substitute. Knowing what a spleen looks like is different from feeling what one is like. It gives you a sense memory. And knowing your way around the body is like any other skill, such as playing the piano or riding a bicycle—the more you practice, the better you are at it.

Why anatomy should be universally taught

I believe that learning about our internal anatomy should be part of the humanities. After all, the human body is the most essential aspect of the human image. And to better understand ourselves as people, to truly be at home in our bodies, we must first understand ourselves as animals, as organisms. More pragmatically, it’s extremely helpful information for anyone who’s a consumer of medical services—and that’s all of us, at one point or another.