Dear Members of the HMS and HSDM Communities:
Three years ago, we were shocked by the indictment and arrest of Cedric Lodge, a former staff member in our morgue, who was charged with the unlawful interstate transport of stolen human remains from 2018 through August 2022. His violations — which, as the federal indictment against him states, were “without the knowledge or permission of HMS” — were despicable, abhorrent, and a flagrant betrayal of our values as a medical community. In December 2025, after pleading guilty to his crimes, he was sentenced to 96 months in prison. Six other co-conspirators who bought remains from Lodge but had no connection to Harvard were also indicted, pleaded guilty, and have been sentenced.
These events do not reflect the reverence we hold for the altruistic individuals who selflessly donate their bodies to our Anatomical Gift Program (AGP) to provide essential educational opportunities to medical and dental students, practicing surgeons, and allied health professionals. We reaffirm our deep sorrow and empathy for the families of donors who may have been impacted.
Beginning in the summer of 2023, a number of civil lawsuits were brought against Harvard related to Lodge’s conduct. Today, Harvard and the plaintiffs in those cases asked the court to approve a class action settlement agreement to resolve the claims against the University. At a court conference tomorrow afternoon, counsel for both the plaintiffs and Harvard will request the court’s preliminary approval of the settlement agreement. If the court grants preliminary approval, two class action settlement funds totaling $53 million will be established to resolve the lawsuits. A third-party Settlement Administrator will be appointed to, among other things, notify potential class members — including by creating a website with information on eligibility and instructions for submitting a claim — and to distribute settlement funds. This process, from beginning to end, is expected to take several months. We will update the FAQs on our website when further information about the court’s actions and when details from and contact information for the Settlement Administrator are available.
In addition to monetary provisions, the settlement agreement includes HMS’ pledge to provide a statement to the claimant families via live webinar confirming that Lodge’s criminal acts were morally reprehensible and inconsistent with the standards that Harvard University and HMS expect for the treatment of anatomical donors and their loved ones, as well as a statement summarizing improvements made to the AGP. Furthermore, beginning in the 2027-2028 academic year, HMS will establish an annual financial aid scholarship for medical students in appreciation and in honor of all of our anatomical donors.
The AGP has also enacted the recommendations of a panel of three outside experts appointed by the Harvard University Office of the President and Provost in 2023 to evaluate the AGP and related policies and practices. The panel released its report in December 2023, which provided constructive feedback and recommendations to ensure that the program adheres to the highest standards and best practices. The recommendations were categorized into six areas — governance, policies, communications, specimens, collections, and facilities — each of which was assigned to a senior faculty member or administrator responsible for overseeing the progress in that domain, resulting in important and sustained progress over the past two years.
We are grateful to be working together with the plaintiffs to move forward in a way that prioritizes support for families and the AGP and avoids prolonged litigation. While Lodge’s sentencing concludes the criminal case against him, and the class action settlement agreement when fulfilled would conclude the civil cases, the process of recovering from this painful incident continues.
The detailed study of human anatomy through the dissection of the bodies of deceased individuals is an invaluable and indispensable part of medical and dental students’ education and in the ongoing training of surgical residents and other health care professionals. Our students are deeply respectful of and grateful to the donors and their families, and each year at the conclusion of their studies they hold a private memorial service to honor the donors.
In a letter to family members and next of kin in July 2023 following news of the Cedric Lodge’s actions, our students wrote the following: “Newly minted medical students enter classrooms each August for a year of mostly lecture-based teaching. Time spent with donors is a rare opportunity to step out of the classroom and learn from our very first patients. It is in this sacred space that many students are shaped into nascent physicians, understanding the weight of the trust others put into the profession we are embarking on.”
While we cannot rewrite the past events that brought us here, our students give us profound hope in the future. The next generation of physicians we are training will carry forward an enduring legacy of service and selflessness and will spread that generosity to every life they touch.
Sincerely,
George Q. Daley
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
Harvard University
Bernard S. Chang
Dean for Medical Education
Harvard Medical School