About Us
Program Overview
The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Donated Body Program provides human cadavers for scientific anatomical studies essential to teaching and research for UCLA and its affiliates.
The University relies on the support and generosity of the community for help in fulfilling its academic, research and healthcare mission. The University recognizes the value and importance of these donations and is committed to ensuring that they are treated with care and the utmost respect.
Donated human remains are integral to a wide range of educational, research and clinical pursuits, including anatomy instruction and neurological, anatomical and physiological research, and pathological examination, to name a few.
These anatomical remains provide invaluable human materials for use in study, training and research and are also used for surgical procedural training, allied health education, forensic research and training, mortuary science education and the development and testing of new medical devices.
UCLA is one of the foremost medical research institutions in the world, carrying on studies in numerous fields in order to discover new methods of fighting disease, alleviating suffering and assisting in recovery from injury.
"It was really an outstanding concept. It was the first willed body program in the world. And from that beginning, every other state that had medical schools in this country developed a program."
Featured in Los Angeles Times
As her world diminished, Elizabeth Uyehara signed her body over to researchers to help unravel the mystery of Lou Gehrig's disease.