The Laura Lee show: conversation for exploration; Dr. Roy Glover talks about bodies … the exhibition

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Feb-March, 2007 by Laura Lee

Laura Lee: I've just spent four fascinating hours in Bodies: The Exhibition and walked away with a renewed and much better-educated--as they say, "to see is to know"--appreciation of the beautifully designed piece of machinery that each of us is issued at birth. Bodies: The Exhibition is a traveling exhibit, and I have to recommend you see it when it comes to a city near you. Dr. Roy Glover, the exhibit's Medical Director, joins us to talk about what an extraordinary undertaking this is, to put real human bodies and real body parts on display, in such a way as to give you a rare inside view to see how all the parts relate. And this not the old preservation system of organs in bottles of formaldehyde; techniques way beyond that are employed here. I was continually asking myself, how did they do this? How exactly do you extract only the blood vessels or only the nervous system--or perform some of the other feats you'll see--and put all this on display? And, I want to know, who dreamed this exhibit up? Whose bodies are these? How many man-hours went into putting this all together? Here's our chance to find out. And you may also be wondering, how do you put on a show featuring dozens of real human bodies and avoid overtones of the macabre? But this was all beautifully and artistically and respectfully done, I assure you. So Dr. Glover, welcome. Good to have you here.

Roy Glover: Good to be here.

LL: You have to first of all describe this exhibition. We're looking at real human bodies dissected in various ways to really show you the mechanics of the various systems--and very ingeniously. I would have a hard time describing what I've just seen. How do you describe this exhibit?

RG: Well, I would say it's a museum-quality exhibition designed to introduce people to themselves in a way they never could have imagined or thought possible. It's an introduction seen through the eyes of 21 real human bodies and more than 260 organs and individual body segments, all meticulously dissected, preserved with liquid silicon, and respectfully displayed. It's an exhibition designed to empower people, both young and old, to understand their bodies better and to live healthier lives. There are nine galleries, and each of them has a focus on a particular body system. The way that the galleries are organized, it's a systematic building up of the body beginning with the skeleton.

Most people think they understand the skeleton and the skeletal system pretty well because they, of course, have seen skeletons. They have seen pictures of them in books, and they've seen cardboard displays of skeletons at various times of the year. But I don't think people realize that when we're talking about our skeleton, we're talking about something that's alive. When we see a skeleton that's hanging like for the one that's hanging in the gallery at the exhibition, we're looking at only at the mineral part of the skeleton. And we have to understand that there's actually living tissue that makes up the skeleton. It makes it very dynamic. Our skeletons are changing on a minute-by-minute basis in order to strengthen, to allow us to bear weight, and to support the muscles that are attached to them. So beginning with the skeleton, as you begin to read, as you begin to understand, you do come away with a very, very different perspective on this one system, which everybody thinks they understand pretty well before then moving on the muscular system and the nervous system. By the time exhibition visitors finish, there isn't one person who has gone through the exhibition who isn't amazed at how complex their body is and who doesn't also has a greater appreciation for the things that one can do to better take care of a body.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Those are two of the real bottom-line issues for us: understanding your body better allows you to appreciate it more and to take better care of it. If we can accomplish those goals, I think those will be significant goals for the people who come to the exhibition. It will allow them to live healthier, happier, and what we feel are more productive lives.

LL: Is this one of the reasons you agreed to become the medical director for this undertaking? What's your background?

RG: Well, I taught anatomy for 35 years at the University of Michigan Medical School. So anatomy is a passion of mine, and I enjoyed the 35 years that I was involved in teaching medical students. During that time, I had the opportunity to develop and run a preservation lab, a lab that preserved body segments, organs, even whole bodies that could be used for educational purposes. And I had a chance to use them to discuss the body with adults and with young people.

First of all, I found out that there was a certain amount of ignorance on the part of both groups about their bodies--and yet a fascination and amazement and a wonder that I knew would make an exhibition like this extremely important to them and, in the long run, help them to understand their bodies better and, again, take better care of them. So when I was asked by Premier Exhibitions to join the company, I was very, very pleased to be able to do that, because one of the things that I would really like to do is to share some of my knowledge and expertise with the general public. And that's one of the things that I've been able to do.