Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 13, 2026
Abbiategrasso Brain Bank Protocol for Collecting, Processing and Characterizing Aging Brains
Published on: June 3, 2020
The Demographics of Whole-Body Donors in Wisconsin
Sarah Traynor1, Christine Egede2, Ryan E Hillmer3
1Department of Academic Affairs, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, setraynor@wisc.edu.
Background:
Individuals who donate their bodies to academic, whole-body donation programs support health science education, training, and research. This is the first report on Wisconsin whole-body donor demographics and the extent to which donors represent the state population.
Methods:
Donor demographic data from 2016 through 2021 were collected from death certificate worksheets and compared with Wisconsin population data from the US Census Bureau and state health statistics.
Results:
Most donors were non-Hispanic White individuals, did not have a college degree, and did not work in health care. The median age at death was 86 years. Twenty-eight percent of donors served in the armed forces. Donors were not representative of the Wisconsin population in age, race, ethnicity, or military service.
Discussion:
Whole-body donors provide an invaluable resource for health science education and research. Understanding donor demographics is an important first step in examining diversity and representation within Wisconsin's body donation programs.
Related Concept Videos
01:28Kidney Transplant I: Introduction
01:22Bone Marrow Sampling and Transplants
The transplant begins with high doses of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, which aim to destroy...