Community comes together
at PCOM’s annual Body Donor Memorial Service
Published 1:27 pm Monday, June 23, 2025
- PCOM South Georgia students and employees gather to pay tribute to body donors during a special service held for them in May. This year about 25 family members of donors joined the tribute to their loved ones.
MOULTRIE – PCOM South Georgia held its annual Body Donor Memorial service on campus last month. For the first time, family members from the Moultrie area attended the event. This highlighted the program’s growth across South Georgia since, 2019. More than 100 people, including students, faculty, and community members, gathered to honor those who donated their bodies for science and research.
This year’s event was coordinated by first-year students from the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Class of 2028. Also, the Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences Class of 2025.
Jonathan Ortiz, (DO, ’28), greeted the crowd and reflected on his experience working with what he considers his first patient.
Ortiz said “Through their gift we received an education that goes beyond science, skills, lectures, or textbooks. This is an opportunity for learning, so intimately, it is one we do not take lightly, for it has shaped the way we think, how we approach medicine, and has sculpted the kind of doctors we hope to become.”
Class Chair Daniel Chanelo, (DO, ’28), spoke, as well as, Lily Dywer (DO, ’28) and Alexandria Branch, (MS, ’25), biomedical class chair. They noted how the donors had given them each a vital lesson. They also noted that medicine was not just a science but also an act of service.
Professor of Anatomy Md Emranuel Huq, PhD, shared how the program deepened the understanding of the human body. He also emphasized how it taught empathy.
“It is also essential in our pursuit of knowledge, healing, and compassion,” he said.
Kristie Petree, DO, associate professor and chair of the Department of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine and a graduate of PCOM Georgia’s Class of 2013, said, “Far beyond anything described in a lecture, these teachers offered the opportunity to encounter the human body in its truest form. They granted our students front row seats to lessons that transcend anatomy; lessons in humility, mortality, and empathy.”
To learn more about the PCOM South Georgia Body Donor Program, visit the webpage for more information. Also, contact Jeremy Dickens, anatomical coordinator at PCOM South Georgia, at danielldi1@pcom.edu or (229) 668-3261.
