There is a great abundance of cadavers, nor shortage at all. The U.S. and India are the largest suppliers to the world's medical schools and research labs. The U.S. obtains cadavers from willed body programs as well as unclaimed bodies. The UCSF Willed Body Program will not allow their willed bodies to be used in any sort of program that does not ultimately benefit human anatomy education or research. I run the lab that Alok is referencing where we create prosections for teaching anatomy. Despite his casual remarks of wonder and curiosity, Alok has an extraordinary gift for focusing, working hard and accomplishing tasks. His work in my lab is extremely valuable, and he sometimes brings a friend or three which makes my work as a 75 year old anatomy professor so much better and easier. These cadavers are used by anatomy professors to teach anatomy and physiology to pre-med and other allied health students in both the undergraduate and also post-baccalaureate courses (UC Berkeley Ext. and Merritt College).
I run the lab (Anatomy, Biology Dept. at Merritt College) that Alok is referencing, and I run a very tight ship. We begin all sessions with an invocation to the generous people who have willed their bodies to make our work possible. The invocation also references the essential meaning of "community" (we work at Merritt College a community college). Positive and respectful regard mutually applied among a small group of people is Community. This is in counterpoint to negative regard and disrespect which brings about conflict. Our work is a product of a truly exquisite community of people. The work we do in my lab brings about pro-sections of four cadavers to be used our professors in the teaching of Human Anatomy and Physiology courses at Merritt College. This is not a San Francisco tourist venue. This is a Biology Department. The pro-sected cadavers function as an essential part of this teaching. I am 75 years old and I need assistance from people who generously volunteer their energies (plus $60) under my direct guidance for my non-credit, ungraded, fee-based project. Alok who wrote the above article has come to quite a number of our sessions and has become adept at the work we do together. He has helped me with perhaps 40+ hours of hands on diligent work which I greatly appreciate. We have beautiful wet sections and beautifully tagged structures in our cadavers to show for it. And our regular curriculum anatomy students benefit greatly from this work. There is no "disrespect" for the willed bodies displayed in our class ever. I will not allow it. I've only had occasion to eject one disrespectful person in the 14 years of this course and that was for someone knowingly misgendering someone in our work group. That happened almost 12 years ago. Every one since then has been wonderfully respectful and well focused. I really do not permit any disrespect in our community which is made up of medical scientists, biology students, professional scientists in our community, students of medical sciences including alternative sciences like chiropractic, Chinese medicine, all physical therapy modalities and most especially artists who work in medical illustration. I've even had some Pixar artists who were exquisite in their focus and respect for our cadavers. This course does not ever involve "gore satisfaction", and I find the suggestion from someone who has not attended this course very disrespectful indeed. This is the course that Alok is referencing: https://www.landhortnursery.org/biology-courses.html I thank Alok for maintaining his focus and sense of respectful decorum when he comes to work with me. I should add that all people working with me have signed a Cadaver Protocol agreeing to never take photos in the lab of any of our work. Illustration is permitted especially by the medical illustrators and any other people in the visual arts. I began my anatomy teaching career teaching in a medical school in Texas, and it's an honor now to be working in the SF Bay Area in the work that I love to do in a community of people that I find uplifting.
In my teaching career I have not come across "tourist attractions", but I've seen some things offered on the Internet for $3K or more that seem questionable to me. However, the lab where Alok worked was not a tourist attraction. He was among people preparing cadavers as prosections for college anatomy and physiology courses, not for a tourist attraction. The work requires focus diligence and the end product becomes part of the educational program for UC Berkeley Extension and Merritt College.