Pasadena Charity Funds Human Cadaver Lab Program

The Pasadena-based John Stauffer Charitable Trust has donated $366,265 to develop a human cadaver laboratory program to help train students studying the medical field at Coastline College’s Newport Beach campus, the school announced Thursday.

The lab created through the charitable grant “will provide experiential learning opportunities and have a tremendously positive impact on the education experiences of the College’s Biological Sciences and Allied Health students,” Coastline College representatives said in a written statement.

The experience will add immensely to students’ educational experiences, said Coastline College Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, Biological Sciences and Allied Health Dr. Deborah C. Henry.

“The Biological Science and Allied Health Department at Coastline is so appreciative of the John Stauffer Charitable Trust grant to fund the building of a lab in his honor,” Henry said. “For students to have access to a human cadaver lab as they pursue transfers to career education in medicine, nursing, physical and occupational therapy, and dentistry — among others — is an experience they never will forget. I certainly remember the gift of learning anatomy on a cadaver in medical school.”

The majority of students in the college’s Biological Sciences and Allied Health program are working toward prerequisites for medical or dental schools or careers such as nursing, physical and occupational therapy, pharmacy or physician assistant, the statement said. Such courses require the students to study human anatomy and physiology.

“Human cadavers in the lab creates an active learning environment that allows students to have a hands-on experience that will provide enhanced instruction in human anatomy for the Health Science students,” according to the statement. “Some students as part of their application process for transfer to degree programs require access to a human cadaver.”

The John Stauffer Charitable Trust was founded in 1974 through the will of John Stauffer, who was the principal officer and shareholder at the Stauffer Chemical Co. in San Francisco, according to Coastline College.

“In his will, Mr. Stauffer expressed his desire that the Trust primarily support nonprofit hospitals and colleges and universities in California,” the statement said. “In recent years, the Trustees have emphasized grants to fund undergraduate student research, but the Trustees recognize the importance of this lab in the training of future health care professionals.”