The Department of Anatomy is an education-focused department, where faculty salaries are almost exclusively support by tuition rather than grant. Some faculty are also engaged in research. The department mainly trains medical students (primarily in gross anatomy), graduate students (primarily MS in Applied Anatomy students), and undergraduates. Faculty research focuses on anatomical sciences (including comparative anatomy, vertebrate paleontology, and human anatomy) and medical education.
In support of education and research, the department maintains an Anatomical Gift Program (AGP). Facilities necessary to support the AGP include a morgue (staffed by a full-time mortician and a part-time mortician's assistant), refrigerator and freezer storage units, and dissection facilities. These facilities and adjacent areas, including most faculty offices and the department’s conference room, were recently renovated and reopened in September of 2025.
Medical student training in gross anatomy has two components: a two-week cadaver-based dissection experience for M1s (Anatomy Boot Camp) that takes place between Blocks 1 and 2; and GARLA (Gross Anatomy, Radiology, and Living Anatomy), which uses the innovative mixed-reality HoloAnatomy application and is part of the longitudinal Block 7 (Structure). The MSAA is designed to help students build a strong post-baccalaureate portfolio with the goal of applying to professional schools. It centers on the Anatomical Sciences Core Curriculum (ASCC), which includes courses on gross anatomy, histology, neuroanatomy, and embryology. Graduate students also gain valuable teaching experience by assisting with medical and graduate courses. Our undergraduate Minor in Anatomical Sciences (MAS) gives students a solid foundation in anatomical sciences in preparation for medical school. Undergraduates who desire advanced training can matriculate into our MSAA program through a combined bachelor’s-master’s path (CBM).
The Department has undergone substantial personnel changes since the last department review. It is currently staffed by six full-time faculty, only half of whom were present in 2019. Staff include an administrator, department assistant, mortician, laboratory manager, and mortician assistant. All of these staff were hired within the past four years. The Department is led by Dr. Darin Croft, PhD, who was appointed in April 2025 and is the first permanent chair of the department in nearly two decades.. He succeeded Dr. Clifford Harding, MD, PhD (Chair of Pathology), who had served as Interim Chair of Anatomy since 2012.
The department has three standing committees: Department Committee on Appointments, Promotions, and Tenure (DCAPT); Graduate Education Committee (GECo); and Undergraduate Education Committee (UEC). A Faculty Search Committee is established and staffed as necessary.
Sincerely,
Darin Croft, PhD
Chair and Graduate Program Director
Professor, Department of Anatomy