One of SUNY Polytechnic Institute's newest teachers just goes by one name: Syndi.

That's because she's a real dummy, a synthetic cadaver donated to the school's College of Health Sciences in Marcy to help students learn anatomy.

Syndi is a nickname, chosen by biology and chemistry lecturer Megan Dischiavo, for the silicone cadaver, which is officially known by its brand name, SynDaver.

"It's such a beneficial tool to teaching anatomy because you can teach the body as an entity, rather than using separate models," Dischiavo said in an email. "This really gives the student a global perspective of how the body works rather than learning bits and pieces on the cat or separate models.

"I've already had them relate their own bodies to the SynDaver. For example, when I showed one student the appendix, she immediately said, 'I had that taken out.' She then understood why she had pain right where the appendix is."

And students can learn all that, she said, without the "emotional experience" or chemical involved in dissecting human cadavers.

The almost $75,000 synthetic cadaver was bought by four donors, including the Dorothy Griffin Foundation, M&T Bank/Partners Trust Bank Charitable Fund, SUNY Performance Improvement Fund and an anonymous donor who gave in memory of a "remarkable man."

It is the only life-sized SynDaver in Upstate New York, according to the college. It includes bones, joints, organs and tendons, which can be exposed to let students see anatomical structures as they would appear in a real human body.

With Syndi, students see things in the same perspective they would on a patient, Dischiavo said.

"It's also helpful so they can start moving the SynDaver just as they would their patients from day one of learning," she said. "For example, we can show them how to take a radial pulse in the exact location they would on a human or the blood vessel cardiac surgeons take from the leg to use in the heart with bypass surgery."

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SUNY Poly students learn anatomy with synthetic cadaver - The Times Telegram