ITALIAN MED STUDENTS COMING TO D’YOUVILLE FOR GROSS ANATOMY EXPERIENCE

BUFFALO - The Italians are coming! The Italians are coming!

Some 40 Italian medical students will descend upon D’Youville College this summer for the first annual Italian-American Conference on Human Anatomy, Research and Healthcare Professions. It will be the first of its kind in the U.S. and will take place on the college campus in Buffalo July 24 through August 18.

The newly developed program is designed for Italian medical students currently attending medical schools across Italy so they can learn more about human gross anatomy. The students will conduct human cadaver dissection together with D’Youville professors and other Western New York Health Care professionals.

Italy does not have an organized program for individuals to donate their bodies to medical schools, so theory, detailed models and demonstrations are used to train doctors. There are limited cadavers for professor to dissect, and students have little or no opportunity to dissect.

"Italian students learn through theory and do not have the ‘hands-on’ gross anatomy training American students have,” says Marion Pace Olivieri, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Math & Natural Sciences at D’Youville and originator of the conference.

"We are very much honored that these medical schools, some the oldest in the world, have placed their trust in our college to help further educate their students,” she said.

She and Mary Hurley, Ph.D., D’Youville professor of biology who teaches gross anatomy, traveled to Italy last summer and this spring to call on universities to present their idea for the unique conference and found interest at the University of Bologna with a professor who heads the Anatomical Society of Italy, Professor Giovanni Mazzotti.

Professor Mazzotti relayed the information regarding the program to the Italian Anatomical Society while the D’Youville professors returned to the U.S. to await the outcome.

The interest in the D’Youville idea was immediate and was championed in Italy by student Lorenzo Maroni of Bologna and Professor Michele Papa at the University of Salerno.

The idea was quickly approved and the two professors returned to Italy to work on details of the conference with Italian educators.

The conference spots filled rapidly and 13 men and 28 women are now registered to travel to Buffalo. The medical students speak English and for most it will be their first time in the U.S.

The students, most of them ages 21 – 25, are funding their own conference fees and will be lodged in the dormitories on campus.

"They will perform dissections on cadavers, many for the first time in their education, and they are very excited at this opportunity,” says Dr. Hurley who will lead the students in the lab.

Members of the Buffalo based Italian-American Baccelli Medical Club will assist with the conference and other health care professionals are invited to help, according to Dr. Olivieri. Dr. Castiglia, of the Buffalo Neurosurgery Group, is helping arrange a meeting of Buffalo medical doctors, many that are Italian Americans, that will be held the evening of June 30th at the college. Any doctors or other individuals that are interested in assisting with the program should contact Dr. Olivieri to attend this organizational get-together.

"One of our many goals is to transform these students into excellent ambassadors of Buffalo for their return to their respective Italian cities. While they are here, we will familiarize them with our city and Western New York through trips to Niagara Falls, various free music venues in Buffalo along with our great variety of restaurants, beaches, home cooking and our beautiful summer weather” Olivieri said.

"We are also looking for any organizations that would like to help welcome these Italian students to Buffalo and show them why we are the City of Good Neighbors.”

Contact Dr. Olivieri at 829-7647 or email italians@dyc.edu if you want to help welcome the students to Buffalo.