Amara Yad (The Immortal Hand) is a physician-led initiative with a single goal: To honor the victims of medical exploitation through corrective action. As its first act, Amara Yad will publish a new generation of open-access digital anatomic atlases of the highest quality. These digital atlases will be made available gratis to all users to support the life-saving mission of the profession, made possible with the generous backing of the Amara Yad Project initiated by the UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center in 2022.

THE HISTORY

Between 1938 and the end of World War II, University of Vienna anatomist Eduard Pernkopf published a series of anatomical atlases. He used the bodies of over 1,300 murdered victims of Nazi terror as subjects for his work. The Nazi history of the Pernkopf atlas series was concealed in the 1950s. Swastikas and SS insignia proudly displayed in the illustrators’ signatures of those atlases were erased (partially) from prints in subsequent editions of the atlas. For decades, physicians used Pernkopf ’s atlases without the knowledge that bodies depicted in those works belonged to the victims of Nazi atrocities. The atlases were regarded as preeminent anatomical resources, a clinical necessity, and remained in use even after their depraved origins had been exposed. Importantly, no effort was made to surpass this work and provide a definitive resource for the world.

TODAY

Anatomic atlases are an indispensable resource for medical professionals. At UCLA, the production of clear and accurate atlases that support the lifesaving mission of the profession is made possible by the University’s Willed Body Donor Program, U.S. federal research support for science, financial gifts from donors, and volunteer efforts of students and faculty.

We dedicate the inaugural volume of the Amara Yad Project to the noble humans who have so generously willed their bodies for science and education. We also specifically honor the victims of medical exploitation in Pernkopf ’s atlases. We shift the focus away from the images of their bodies and toward their enduring human dignity.

Dr. Shivkumar gave the opening plenary at the Heart Rhythm Society in May, 2023. Watch him discuss the history of electrophysiology and the Amara Yad project on the UCLA website.

The Anatomical Basis of Cardiac Interventions series establishes a new benchmark in visualizing cardiac anatomy based on unpublished and restored iconic photographs from the Wallace A. McAlpine Collection at UCLA and new images from the UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center.

The inaugural work Atlas of Cardiac Anatomy, Volume 1, serves as a core foundational study of cardiac anatomy and provides a basis for future atlases edited by Kalyanam Shivkumar, MD, PhD.

Forthcoming titles in the Anatomical Basis of Cardiac Interventions series:
Sign up for updates.