(Image Credit: Everything GP Staff/Nathaniel Leigh)

By Nathaniel Leigh

Northwestern Polytechnic

NWP unveils new anatomy lab at Grande Prairie campus

Mar 21, 2026 | 6:00 AM

Northwestern Polytechnic has unveiled its new state-of-the-art anatomy lab.

Students, medical professionals, and local dignitaries attended a presentation on Friday to learn about the new space where medical students will be able to study the human anatomy up close.

(Image Credit: Everything GP Staff/Nathaniel Leigh)

NWP President and CEO Dr. Vanessa Sheane called the event a celebration of NWP’s partnership with the University of Alberta.

“The Northern Alberta Medical program is the latest evidence of that partnership,” Sheane says. “To have this facility, used primarily by the medical students in the NAMP program. But also, there are benefits for our nursing students and kinesiology students, and this is the northernmost anatomy lab in Canada.”

(Image Credit: Everything GP Staff/Nathaniel Leigh)

Sheane says the space also serves as a tool to encourage students in the Peace Region to consider pursuing a career in medicine.

“The nice thing about where it is located in our building is it’s located in our science wing, right in between engineering, physics, chemistry, and the atypical biology labs,” she says. “For students and prospective students that have an affinity to science or life sciences, it’s all there, and they can all see themselves in it.”

(Image Credit: Everything GP Staff/Nathaniel Leigh)

Assistant Dean of the University of Alberta’s Northern Alberta Medical Program, Dr. Richard Martin, calls the space state-of-the-art.

“It needs to be able to house enough students; it needs to be wide enough to demonstrate,” Martin says. “We’re very fortunate to have Dr. Dan Livy and Dr. Liisa Wainman, the anatomists from the University of Alberta, who are here as part of the teaching team. And really, it’s being able to get all the resources.”

Everything GP Staff/Nathaniel Leigh

Martin says studying anatomy is one of the foundational elements of medical studies.

“One of the strengths of the University of Alberta Medical Degree Program has been cadaver dissection for over 100 years,” he says. “The students that are in that program here in Grande Prairie will be able to continue those long traditions here at Northwestern Polytechnic in this state-of-the-art facility.”

(Image Credit: Everything GP Staff/Nathaniel Leigh)

Students working in the new laboratory will have access to donor cadavers supplied by the U of A’s anatomical gifting program.

(Image Credit: Everything GP Staff/Nathaniel Leigh)

(Image Credit: Everything GP Staff/Nathaniel Leigh)

(Image Credit: Everything GP Staff/Nathaniel Leigh)

(Image Credit: Everything GP Staff/Nathaniel Leigh)