15th century anatomy lesson, from Mondino's Anathomia corporis humani, (1493). While the professor reads from the text, his assistant points out the organs under discussion. Mondino de Luzzi (1270 - 1326) was an Italian physician, anatomist, and professor of surgery. He was the first to incorporate a systematic study of anatomy and dissection into a medical curriculum. He performed his first public dissection in Bologna in January 1315 in the presence of medical students and other spectators. The proceedings were formally sanctioned by the Vatican, and the subject was mostly likely a female executed criminal. Mondino's teaching methods were unique because he often performed dissections in person and served the role of demonstrator himself, carefully studying the cadaver and incorporating this personal experience into his text and teaching. His major work, Anathomia corporis humani, written in 1316, is considered the first example of a modern dissection manual, the first true anatomical text and remained the most widely used anatomical text for 250 years. He died in 1326 at the age of 55 or 56.