Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy

About Us

Current Mission

Education: The Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy has a major teaching role in the Health Sciences Center. We offer anatomy courses for medical and dental students, and a large combined undergraduate introductory course for students of nursing, pharmacy, dental hygiene and physical therapy. Students of dental hygiene, physical therapy and physical education are also provided with additional undergraduate courses geared to their particular needs. Graduate courses in the Department serve neuroscience, anatomy, other basic science graduate students, and post-graduate students in dentistry and medicine.

Research: Our own research labs are focused on the following fields: brain, neuroscience, central nervous system, pulmonary disease and function, microcirculation, anatomy, and brain development. We collaborate with other researchers in the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center and several Interdisciplinary Center's of the HSC.

Health Sciences Support: The Department supports the University-wide research community through our Microscopy and Image Analysis Facility which consists of several state-of-the-art microscopy and image analysis systems. We are also home to the statewide Human Gift Registry Program which manages human body donations that are used in our medical training and research.

History

Instruction in Anatomy was part of the first curriculum offered when The Agricultural College of West Virginia was created by the legislature in Morgantown in 1867.  Just a year later the name was changed to West Virginia University.  Dr. Hugh Brock became Lecturer in Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene (1969) and offered a modest course of study until creation of a proper Medical Department in 1878.  Early anatomical study including microscopic study of histological preparations and observation of cadaver dissection by the professor took place in Woodburn Hall.  Dr. James W. Hartigan sought funding for a new medical building and the Hick House (below) was built.  The department occupied the Two-year Medical School building from 1916-1957 when it moved to new, then “luxurious,” quarters in the present Health Sciences Center building.  Nine Chairmen and numerous faculty have served the department since its move into modern facilities and four year medical school status (1960).  The department’s name was modified to Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy in 1998 but it remains an identifiable entity with roots that intertwine with those of WVU as an institution.

	The HICK HOUSE was the first medical school building in the State of West Virginia. Constructed in 1892 in Falling Run Hollow below Woodburn Hall, it was intended to provide space for dissection of about 10 cadavers. Dr. James Hartington, appointed to the university faculty in 1887 as the first full time Professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene secured the $350 needed to construct the 14” x 20” building.  It served Medical instruction for about ten years and provided material for area storytellers for many more.   The origins of the name "Hick" are not known, but it probably represents a local corruption of the Latin burial phrase “Hic Jacet” (here lies…).  Whether true or not, cadavers here were known as “hicks,” rather than "stiffs."  Click on the image for larger image. Photo Courtesy: West Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Libraries.
	This anatomy laboratory was probably located in the basement of Woodburn Hall.  Equipment for cutting microscopic sections and microscopes identify it as a site for study of histology, and the skeletal material suggests that it may have served as the Gross anatomy lab as well, before the advent of the “Hick House.” Click on the image for larger image. Photo Courtesy: West Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Libraries.
	The Two-Year Medical School Building - 1916-1957. It featured three floors for classrooms, plus a basement for the preparation and storage of cadavers. The basement abounded with rats, and students had to carry their own cadavers up from the basement to an outside door, around the exterior of the building, then back in and up three flights to the gross anatomy labs located on the top floor. Click on the image for larger image. Photo Courtesy: West Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Libraries.
	View of a medical histology class in progress.  This is believed to be the small histology laboratory on the top floor of the building shown above. Anatomy also had, on the one floor, a microscopy preparation room, small darkroom, lecture room and four offices. Click on the image for larger image. Photo Courtesy: West Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Libraries.
	Dr. Gideon Dodds, Professor of Anatomy, served from his appointment in 1918 until his retirement in 1951. His remarkable collection of preserved teratological specimens (background) is still featured in the gross anatomy labs.  Click on the image for larger image.