CLEVELAND -- Every orthopaedic surgeon’s dream is stored in the climate-controlled basement of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History: over 3,000 autopsied, documented and classified human skeletons.

Daniel Cooperman, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon at University Hospitals of Cleveland and professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, frequents the museum’s basement to make good use of the skeletons for his research and teaching. The skeletons are formally known as the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection, the largest collection of its kind in the Western world.

Located in the physical anthropology wing of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the skeletons - mostly unclaimed bodies from the Cleveland City Morgue - were collected by Western Reserve University surgeon and anatomist Carl A. Hamann, MD in 1893. When he became dean of the medical school in 1912, Dr. Hamann imported T. Wingate Todd, MD, a renowned British surgeon-anatomist, to oversee the collection. Both scientists used the collection to teach anatomy and physiology to their medical students.

Dr. Cooperman currently uses the vast collection to study the relationship between the shape of a hip joint and its nemesis, arthritis. Another study is a two-part research project on spondylosis, a painful, degenerative spine disorder.

"When orthopaedic residents and fellows are able to compare and contrast bone size and shape, they get a real understanding for what the range of anatomic variation in bones can be in the population," says Dr. Cooperman, referring to the depth of the collection. "Understanding that variability and seeing what normal is -- is critical for understanding how to approach treatment, plan surgery, fix fractures and design and manufacture implants." Generally, however, Dr. Cooperman uses the Hamann-Todd Collection to answer questions or solve a problem that arises in clinical practice.

The collection’s size makes it an invaluable research tool -- both for himself and those medical residents rotating through University Hospitals of Cleveland’s orthopaedics service.  "There’s nothing more damaging to a research project than a small sample size," Dr. Cooperman explained, "and this collection is not a small sample size."