INDIANAPOLIS– Indiana University School of Medicine alum and longtime supporter Diane K. Werth, MD, has committed $5 million to support a state-of-the-art anatomy lab in the school’s new Medical Education and Research Building.
Werth’s generosity ensures that students at the flagship campus in Indianapolis will have an ideal environment to realize immersive, hands-on experiences.
The new lab will be larger and put the latest tools within their reach. Some of the lab’s highlights include:
- Flexible space to accommodate up to 35 stations and 150 students with surgical lighting
- Wall-mounted flat screens to allow faculty to highlight and describe physical structures easily
- Mobile overhead cameras that can move between work stations
- Adjacent flexible spaces that can be used for smaller groups and continuing medical education
- Locker rooms for faculty and students to change before and after sessions
Those upgrades are vital for a space where instructors and students can move freely as students engage in peer teaching about what they see during sessions.
“This will be a nicer learning experience because of how we’ve set up better acoustics, better lighting, and better video equipment,” said Andrew Deane, PhD. “It means we can do more demonstrations. It allows me to nicely position structures under a camera, and when we get to a tricky part of a lab, I can turn it on and show structures. It makes it easier for us all to communicate.”
Werth is keenly aware of the importance of the anatomy lab’s role in medical education – and in continuous learning.
“What medicine teaches is that your education never stops,” said Werth, who earned her medical degree from IU in 1978. “If you want to be a good doctor for the rest of your life, you embrace that. It starts when you get to medical school. You rely on your colleagues, and that is one thing you learn early in the anatomy lab. It’s a group you work closely with and share a unique bond with forever.”
This gift is the latest in a series of generous contributions from Werth and her late husband, Allan S. Manalan, MD ’76, who passed away in October 2020 from appendiceal cancer. Together, they endowed a professorship in medicine, supported fellows within the Division of Cardiology, and backed research in peritoneal surface cancers.
“We loved medicine,” Werth said. “We also believed that what you could do with money was far more important than what you could ever buy with money. We’ve supported research, a professorship, and some scholarships. I thought this was a major need and opportunity.”
The couple met while attending IU School of Medicine, and each started their career in cardiology by practicing at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago. During their time at Reese, each served on the faculty at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine. In 1987, they relocated to Sioux City, Iowa, where they spent the remainder of their careers with Cardiology Associates.
“We are deeply grateful for the generous and loyal support that Dr. Werth and Dr. Manalan have provided us over the years,” said Jay L. Hess, MD, PhD, MHSA, dean of Indiana University School of Medicine. “This investment ensures we can continue to provide this foundational medical training and better connect what students are learning about anatomy to the practice of medicine.
Advances in imaging and other technology have steadily digitized medical education. Yet the gross anatomy lab, which will be on the second floor of the academic and research building due to open in 2025 near 16th Street and Senate Avenue, reinforces IU’s commitment to hands-on physical dissection as a vital component of training future healers.
“The gross anatomy laboratory experience for medical students is foundational to their medical education and integral to their professional identity formation as future physicians,” said Tracy Vargo-Gogola, PhD, who is Associate Center Director for the school’s South Bend campus and oversees the anatomy course taught at all nine IU School of Medicine campuses. “Dr. Werth’s gift highlights and honors the importance of this experience in medical education. We are especially grateful for this gift, which will allow us to continue to provide this pivotal experience for our students.”
Plans include a private reception area and administrative suite for the Anatomical Education Program, which manages willed body donations.
About the IU School of Medicine
The IU School of Medicine is the largest medical school in the U.S. and is annually ranked among the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The school offers high-quality medical education, access to leading medical research and rich campus life in nine Indiana cities, including rural and urban locations consistently recognized for livability. According to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, the IU School of Medicine ranks No. 13 in 2023 National Institutes of Health funding among all public medical schools in the country.
Writer: Bobby King, bk16@iu.edu
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