Search Website
QUICK LINKS:
MSc grad reflects on learning and legacy in the anatomy lab
By Cam Buchan
Marie Tsai didn’t realize it at the time, but a single undergraduate anatomy class would change the course of her career.
Years later, the Clinical Anatomy program at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry would take that spark much further than she ever expected.
Now, as she graduates with a Master of Science in Anatomy and Cell Biology, Tsai expresses a deep respect for the people who donate their bodies through the School’s body bequeathal program to benefit learners like her.
“It is an incredible privilege to learn from individuals who donate their bodies to science and higher learning,” she said.
Tsai’s path to anatomy wasn’t straightforward. As a kinesiology student at the University of Waterloo, she took an anatomy course and something clicked. Even as she considered teacher’s college, she couldn’t shake the pull toward anatomy.
At Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, she found a program that gave her immersive anatomical sciences, research opportunities and the chance to teach both medical and dental students.
“This program has a large pedagogical component,” she said. “I could keep growing as a teacher, and anatomy – well, it’s just the body. Everyone has one. It’s universal and fascinating.”
The School also offered a welcoming environment for another of her interests: sustainability. Even before accepting her offer, Tsai reached out to faculty to ask if anyone was exploring the intersection of anatomy and environmental care. The response was immediate and enthusiastic.
“That stood out to me. People wanted to talk about it. They wanted to help me explore it,” she said.
To Tsai, sustainability is more than a buzzword, it’s a way of honouring the planet.
“It’s how we sustain not just human life, but creation as a whole – our ecosystems, our environment, everything that makes life possible,” she said.
That perspective, which was shared with her by a friend and ecologist, became a personal motto: we don’t need everyone to become environmental scientists. We need people in every discipline to care.
And she’s lived that out. Early in her program, she secured funding from the Western Sustainability Impact Fund to install PPE recycling boxes for used masks. More recently, she launched a pilot project trialing a greener embalming fluid and hopes to soon lead a green lab assessment.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s a start,” she said.
As she looks ahead to what’s next, including plans to travel, Tsai carries with her the memory of the School’s donor community.
At the annual memorial service for the body bequeathal program, students, staff and faculty honour the donors by name – reflecting and sharing music and words with their families.
“There is reciprocity in what we do,” said Tsai. “Individuals from our local community are gifting us something textbooks could never teach. In return, we learn deeply and reverently from these teachers, honouring what is often one of their final wishes.”