USC Keck School of Medicine will not renew cadaver contract with US Navy

The decision came because UC San Diego will not “provide further donated bodies.”

By DAVID RENDON
Keck School of Medicine will no longer be selling cadavers to the United States military. The contact that allowed for the bodies to be used for surgical training by the Israel Defense Forces expires Sept. 24. (Simon Park / Daily Trojan file photo)

The Keck School of Medicine of USC will not renew its contract to sell donated cadavers to the United States Navy, according to a statement by the Keck School of Medicine to the Daily Trojan. 

The contract allowed for cadavers to be given to the Israel Defense Forces for surgeon training, as originally reported by Annenberg Media. Annenberg Media reported that since 2018, USC has earned around $1.1 million from the contract. 

“The Keck School of Medicine’s contract with the Navy for medical training using donated bodies expires on September 24, 2026,” the statement read. “Because the donated bodies under the contract came largely from [UC San Diego], which recently informed us that it can no longer provide them to us, the Keck School will not be able to renew this contract with the Navy.”


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The Keck School of Medicine said bodies donated to USC’s Anatomical Gift Program were not used to train the IDF. It also claimed it did not profit from the bodies donated by UCSD. 

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