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Our journeys to Graphic Medicine and our research communities may vary, but those of us who come to this community, both in-person and virtually, have by now come to share an understanding of what Graphic Medicine is and how it is relevant to our everyday lives.   When our colleague in Ireland, Jane Burns, initially started working on her PhD, she was focused on Medical Humanities and Archives as her research area. Being diagnosed with uterine cancer months prior to commencing her PhD put things on hold.  Her husband and both of her children were obviously worried, but it was… Read More

  This January, the Graphic Medicine International Collective (GMIC), a not-for-profit organization with a mission to guide and support the uses of comics in health, was thrilled to announce an award for outstanding health-related comic project completed and/or published in 2021. This award was made possible by a generous matching gift in Honor of Nancy and Herbert Wolf. As announced at our conference closing ceremonies on Friday, the winner of the 2022 Graphic Medicine Award is Parenthesis, by Élodie Durand. ABOUT THE AWARD – Élodie will receive $1000 USD and a very special commemorative trophy, which we’d like to share a… Read More

The Graphic Medicine International Collective is thrilled to share the launch of our Frontline Comics Project website! This project, spearheaded by GMIC board members Alex Thomas and Michael Green,  has been 2 years in the making and is the result of intentional and mindful, collaboration between frontline healthcare workers and comics artists – plus the careful work of our facilitators. Each of these 7 comics tells a story from the early days of COVID-19. With support from the Penn State College of Medicine (notably the Department of Medicine, the Division of General Internal Medicine, the Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine, and… Read More

It’s an infuriating and frightening time for people who can get pregnant. Here are some resources in comic form that might help us navigate together. WE TESTIFY Comics For Choice (and GM review)   “Out of the Alley: How Self-Managed Abortion Looks Today” a comic by Lux Alptraum and Erika Moen on The Nib “My abortion was a radical act of self-care. All deserve that right.” Perspective by Sage Coffey at Washington Post “Abortion is an Essential Service” by Caitlin Bunnie “Mine: A Celebration of Liberty and Freedom For All Benefiting Planned Parenthood” “My Mom Had an Abortion” by Beezus… Read More

Our Chicago conference is only three weeks away! The remote presentations are rolling in and will be available online July 1. All conference registrants will be sent a link to the password-protected site. The most updated moment-t0-moment schedule for the in-person events (and remote watch feed) is now available via the conference home page or by using this QR code anytime. Get yourself ready for some terrific presentations.

guest post by Nina Blom My name is Nina Blom, and when I was a child I was deliberately made ill by my mother. This abuse, called Münchhausen by Proxy/Pediatric Condition Falsification, took place until I was fourteen years old, when an observant pediatrician sounded the alarm and had me removed from my parents’ house. I was in such a state that if this had happened two days later, I would have been dead. Münchhausen by Proxy/Pediatric Condition Falsification is a severe form of child abuse in which the perpetrator makes up, acerbates or causes a physical or mental illness… Read More

guest post by François I. Luks It is pretty obvious that medical illustration has its roots in classic art. The early medical illustrators were artists and painters first. Jan Steven Van Calcar and other draftsmen’s anatomic plates for Vesalius’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica, Gerard de Lairesse’s for Professor Bidloo, Jan Wandelaar for Bernhard Albinus (Figure 1), and Jan van Rymsdyk’s for the Hunter brothers are all masterpieces that are as beautiful to look at as they are scientifically accurate. As medical knowledge evolved, however, science became less contemplative (anatomy) and more procedural. Advances in physiology, pharmacology, embryology, and biochemistry paved… Read More

We are two old high school friends, pediatrician Sevde Felek Boyvat MD, and artist/animator, Quinn Burrell. We are excited to share with you a non-fiction comic on the under-recognized adolescent mental health crisis that has been affecting our society during the pandemic. Our goal with this comic is not only to educate others about this issue, but also to help us to advocate for more mental health resources in this population. On October 19, 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association have joined together to declare a national emergency… Read More