Graphic Medicine 2026 Conference Agenda is Live!

Day 1 – Thursday, July 23, 2026 

4:00-6:00 p.m.

Conference Reception and Registration

Welch Reading Room (East Baltimore Campus)

 

Day 2 – Friday, July 24, 2026 

8:30-9:00 a.m.	Light Breakfast	Mudd Atrium
9:00-9:30 a.m.	Conference Welcome	Mudd 26
9:30-10:30 a.m.	Keynote Speaker: Nathan Gray	Mudd 26
10:30-10:45 a.m.	Coffee Break	Mudd Atrium

 

10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. – Session I

• Panel (Oral Presentations) – Memory, Dementia, and Aging (Mudd 100)
  Panelists:
  • Eric Glickman – How to Lose Your Mind: A Comics Project of Friendship and Memories in the Face of Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Davida Pines (Boston University) – The Visual Rhetoric of Aging and Age-Related Dementia in Susan MacLeod’s Dying for Attention and Valerie Villieu and Raphael Sarfati’s Little Josephine
  • Allison Bannister (Fort Hays State University) – Peanuts and Public Diagnosis: Medical Narrative in the Artists’ Hand and Line

• Panel (Oral Presentations) – Global Health Ethics and Decolonial Perspectives (Mudd 26)
  Panelists:
  • Kimberly Myers (Penn State College of Medicine) – Global Graphic Medical Ethics: Insights from Co-Creating a Casebook of Clinical Dilemmas from Around the World
  • Mina Lahlal (Medical University of Vienna) – Untying Experiences in Global Health
  • Ellen Amster (McMaster University) – Using Comics to Explore Race and Colonialism in the Medical Past: “20,000 Leagues Under the Hospital”
• Lightning Talks – Drawing Illness from the Inside: Chronicity, Diagnosis, and Identity (Gilman 50)
  Speakers:
  • Jen Leach (NYU) – From TMJ to OMG: Comics to Make Invisible Jaw Pain Impossible to Ignore
  • Iris Kim (University of Miami Miller School of Medicine) – Under My Skin: A Graphic Narrative of Chronic Itch and Cultural Identity
  • Sofia Grant (Johns Hopkins University) – Picturing Disease, Picturing Oneself: Depictions of Disease, Identity, and the Self in Representations of Autoimmune Disease
  • Siyu (Anna) Li (Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania) – On Epilepsy: Between Seizure and Silence
  • Maja Milkowska-Shibata (Healing Narratives, LLC) – Where Frames Meet: Visualizing the Experience of the Ilizarov Frame Through Comics
  • Paul Williams (Seltzer Party Studios) – Live Drawing, Chronic Illness, and Collective Understanding
  • Marianne R. Petit (NYU Tisch School of the Arts) DEATH: Liminal Spaces & The Metaphors That Bridge Them – Cancer, Black Holes, and the Cryosphere in the Work of Artist Jo-Anne Green

12:15-1:15 p.m.

Lunch

 

1:15-2:45 p.m. – Session II

• Workshop – Medical Information Under Pressure: A Workshop on Best Practices for Integrating Scientific Information into Graphic Medicine (Gilman 132)
  Facilitators: Ellen Forney and Alex Thomas
• Panel (Oral Presentations) – Neurodivergence, Diagnosis, and Medical Authority (Mudd 100)
  Panelists:
  • Haejoo Kim (Seoul National University) – From “Scatterbrained” to Diagnosed: Medicalization and Patienthood in Korean ADHD Webtoons
  • Juan Gigoux L. (Universidad de Valparaiso) – Neuro@typical: A Graphic Novel about Autism
  • Scarlet Wings Kaili (Cloudscape Comics Society) – Not in the Textbook

• Panel (Oral Presentations) – Disability, Access, and Co-Created Care (Mudd 26)
  Panelists:
  • Zara Waldman (Southern Connecticut State University) and KC Councilor (Southern Connecticut State University) – Sketches from the Sibsphere
  • Susan Lasater (Ardilla Fusion, LLC) and Veiko Valencia (Ardilla Fusion, LLC) – Relatability: A Couple’s Collaboration as Healthcare Worker and Patient
  • Laura Butler (Graphic Medicine Resource Lab, the Human Development Institute, the University of Kentucky) and Erin Fitzgerald (Graphic Medicine Resource Lab, the Human Development Institute, the University of Kentucky and SPECTRUM Cartoon) – Graphic Medicine Resource Lab: A Collaborative Approach Seeking to Improve Health Outcomes and Advocacy of Adults with Developmental Disabilities
  • Leah Misemer (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Victoria Celedon-Garcia (Georgia Institute of Technology) – Beyond “Thoughts and Prayers:” Balancing Empathy and Information in Comics for Health Literacy

• Lightning Talks – Teaching, Training, and Expanding Collections (Gilman 50)
  Speakers:
  • Rebekah Gardner (Brown University) – “Gratuitous Cruelty” vs “Pocket of Safe Space:” An Exploration of Patient-Physician Communication in Graphic Medicine Memoirs
  • Haoran Li – In the Margins: Comics From Medical School
  • Grace Farris (University of Texas Austin, Dell Medical School) – See One, Do One, Publish One: A Self-Directed Graphic Medicine Elective for Medical Residents, Students, and Fellows
  • Alicia Kachmar (University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing) – Graphic Medicine in Nursing Education: Health Equity, Disability, and Patient Voices
  • Katherine Deibel (Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine) – Graphic Osteopathic Medicine: Past and Present
  • Ariel Pomputius (University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries), Chloe Hough (University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries), and Victoria Miller (University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries) – Expanding and Promoting a Health Science Library’s Graphic Medicine Collection to Increase Representation
  • Colleen Foy (Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University) – Graphic Zines: Academic Library Course Encourages Health Literacy Development Through Storytelling

 

2:45-3:00 p.m.

Coffee Break

Mudd Atrium

 

3:00-4:30 p.m. – Session III

• Workshop – Queer Joy and Protest in Health Landscapes (Gilman 132)
  Facilitators: Ann E. Fink (Lehigh University, University of Minnesota) and KC Barry Councilor (Southern Connecticut State University)

• Panel (Oral Presentations) – Chronic Illness, Embodiment, and Patient Testimony (Mudd 26)
  Panelists:
  • Sal Marx (Sick Futures Collective) – Co-Creating Graphic Narratives: Embodied Testimony in Chronic Illness Communities
  • Alex Thomas (Booster Shot Media) and Gary Ashwal (Booster Shot Media) – My Sickle Cell Disease Story: Using Empathy, Authenticity and Innovation to Resist the Pressures of AI-Generated Health Education Content
  • Sreemoyee Bhattacharyya (Brandeis University) and Ishita Sehgal (Indiana University) – Holding Health: Transnational Children and the Refusal of a Single Story
• Panel (Oral Presentations) – Medical Education and Student-Centered Inituatives (Mudd 100)
  Panelists:
  • Paul Timothy Gomez (Yale School of Medicine), Annika Mengwall (Yale University), Sabrina Saeed (Yale School of Medicine), Megan Nance (Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale School of Medicine), Anna Reisman MD (Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine), Sharon Ostfeld-Johns MD (Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine) – Comics and Care: A Student-Led Model for Integrating Graphic Medicine into Medical Education
  • Juan Pablo Gigoux L. (Universidad de Valparaiso) – Development and Implementation of Graphic Medicine at a University in Chile: Teaching, Outreach, Community Engagement, and Research
  • Leesha Coleman (University of South Alabama) – Ethics & Medical Education: Bridging the Gap with Graphic Medicine
  • Dr. Monique Dufour, Dr. Donna Chen, Jess Walters (University of Virginia School
    of Medicine) – Graphic Medicine for Faculty Development

• Lightning Talks – Health-Literacy and Patient-Facing Interventions (Gilman 50) Speakers:
  • Rachel Gagen (Carilion Children’s Clinic, Virginia Tech School of Medicine) – The ABCs of Vaccines
  • Carolina Contreras, Miguel Valero, Pamela Jofré, and Juan Pablo Gigoux (University of Valparaíso) – María’s Helper: An Illustrated Guide to the Function and Care of Implantable Ports for Children
  • María José Valenzuela, Juan Pablo Gigoux and Pamela Jofré (University of Valparaíso) – Empowering Families Through Graphic Medicine: A Fanzine for Children with Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome
  • Ivana Chen (Emory University, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing) – The Effect of Educational Graphic Medicine on the Retention of Cardiometabolic Health Information in Latina Farm Workers in Southwest Georgia
  • Lydia Gregg, Maria Latimer, Mustapha Saheed, Karin E. Tobin, Sharon M. Kelly, Tracy Agee, R. Joshua Steele, Nick Frankiewicz, Tarfa Verinumbe, Carl A. Latkin, and Oluwaseun Falade-Nwulia – Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory) – A Graphic Narrative-Based Intervention for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder
  • Becker (Penn State Medical Center), Michael Green (Penn State Medical Center), Lisa Plotkin (Penn State Medical Center) – A Psychologist, a Doctor, and an Artist Walked into a Thai Restaurant: The Origin Story of “Waiting Roommate”

 

4:30-4:45 p.m.

Coffee Break

Mudd Atrium

 

4:45-6:00 p.m. – Session IV

• Workshop – Why Not Both? Developing Educational Graphic Medicine Comics that Use Both Narrative and Instructional Teaching for Greater Impact (Gilman 132)
  Facilitators: Sarah Peitzmeier (University of Maryland School of Public Health) and Maia Kobabe
• Panel (Oral Presentations) – Graphic Medicine for Processing Grief and Trauma (Mudd 26)
  Panelists:
  • Adam Bessie (Diablo Valley College) & Chloe Horning (Bellevue College) – Trauma-Informed Graphic Reading Groups for Frontline Educators: A Case Study
  • Michelle Vitali (Pennwest Edinboro University) – The Inheritance: An Epigenetic Work-in-Progress
  • Erin Partridge (Dominican University of California) – Processing Disenfranchised Grief with Mixed Media

• Panel (Oral Presentations) – Violence, Medical Ethics, and Research Justice (Mudd 100)
  Panelists:
  • Sydney Halpern (Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University) – Voices for Justice in Medical Research
  • Maria Hernandez-Etura (Wichita State University) – Drawing Against Silence: Sexual Violence, Patient Experience, and Fourth-Wave Feminism in Hispanic Graphic Memoirs
  • Scott T. Smith (Penn State University) – Combat and Chemotherapy: Competitive Violence in Black Canary: The Best of the Best (2024)
• Lightning Talks – Navigating Healthcare with the Aid of Graphic Medicine (Gilman 50)
  Speakers:
  • Ethan Mereish and Tara R. Sullivan (University of Maryland, College Park) – The Development of Project COMIC (COMmunity, Identity, and Culture): A Community-Informed and Youth-Focused Graphic Medicine Intervention for LGBTQ+ Adolescents of Color
  • Corey Lowney – From The HIV/AIDS Epidemic: A School Psychologist/Cartoonist Carries His Brother’s Creative Torch
  • Nicole Pereira – Non-Adherent: A Graphic Narrative of Structural Barriers in Diabetes Care
  • Annabel Anyang (University of Utah) – Student in the Margins: Graphic Medicine Narratives on Navigating Healthcare and Cultural Displacement for the Student Abroad
  • Francisco de Carvalho Azevedo Vinhaes – Instagram Graphic Medicine for Mental Health During COVID

7 p.m.

Aliceheimer’s: A Chamber Opera (RSVP for free here)

Hurd Hall

 

Day 3 – Saturday, July 25, 2026 

9:00-9:30 a.m.	Light Breakfast	Mudd Atrium
9:30-10:30 a.m.	Keynote Speaker: Meredith Li-Vollmer	Mudd 26
10:30-10:45 a.m.	Coffee Break	Mudd Atrium

 

10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. – Session V

• Workshop – Comics and Education: A Vehicle to Empower (Gilman 132)
  Facilitators: Jordan Purnell Jackson (MICA) and Rebecca Fix (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Mental Health)
• Workshop – From Body to Story: A Workshop to Form Unique Short Comics (Gilman 50)
  Facilitator: Normandie Luscher Acevedo (Syracuse University)

• Panel Discussion – Keywords/Keyimages in Graphic Medicine (Mudd 26)
  Organizers: Lisa Diedrich (Stony Brook University) and Briana Martino (Simmons University)
  Panelists:
  • MK Czerwiec & Ebru Ustundag, BODY MAPS
  • Maia Kobabe, NON-ADJACENT SEQUENCE
  • Emmy Waldman, OCD
  • A. David Lewis, CANCER
  • Anna Mukamal, THERAPEUTIC PERFORMANCE
  • Marianne Petit, LAYERS
  • Paul Flippen, DRUGS
  • Liz Argall, LOSS OF CONTROL
  • Sofia Varino, SOLVING/SOLUTIONS

• Panel (Oral Presentations) – Graphic Medicine for Public Health (Mudd 100)
  Panelists:
  • Sarah Febres-Cordero (Emory University), Joseph Karg (Kennesaw State University) – Stories That Save Lives: Graphic Medicine at the Intersection of Art, Science, and Harm Reduction
  • Maju BruneUe (The Ohio State University) – Un Mundo Sin Tuberculosis: A Bilingual Graphic Novel
  • Amaris Feland Ketcham (University of New Mexico) – Sow Fascination During Hard Times

12:15-1:15 p.m.

Lunch

1:15-2:45 p.m. – Session VI

• Workshop – Emotional Regulation with LOVEE and Comics (Gilman 132)
  Facilitator: Cassy Lee
• Panel Discussion – From Interprofessional to Intercommunity: Graphic Medicine and Public Health (Mudd 26)
  Organizers: Robin McCrary (Syracuse University), Mona Li, and Amerisa Waters

• Panel (Oral Presentations): Bodily Autonomy Under Pressure: Gender, Reproduction, and Psychiatric Care (Mudd 100)
  Panelists:
  • Max Barnewitz (University of Maryland) – Comics as/in a Transgender Body
  • Zsuzsa Berend (UCLA) and Elly Teman (Ruppin Academic Center, Israel) – Managing Medicalization in a Graphic Narrative on Gestational Surrogacy
  • Carmen Heuvelmans (University of Twente, the Netherlands) – One Space, Multiple Perspectives: Drawing How Environments Shape Experiences of Stigma and Dignity in Perinatal Psychiatric Care
  • Fionnuala Doran (Edinburgh College of Art) – Physician – heal thyself! Understanding OCD through making comics

2:45-3:00 p.m.

Coffee Break

Mudd Atrium

 

3:00-4:30 p.m. – Session VII

• Workshop – Graphic Nursing Think Tank: Comics for Coping with Nursing Pressures (Gilman 132)
  Facilitators: Esther Bendit Saltzman (Graphic Medicine Nursing Liaison), MK Czerwiec (Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine), Caitlin Nye (SUNY Upstate Medical University)

• Panel (Oral Presentations) – Bridging Gaps: Comics Methods, Clinical Communication, and Community Health (Mudd 26)
  Panelists:
  • María José Mompeán Mejías (University of Alicante) – All You Need Is Illness Comics (and a Semiotic Visual Toolkit for Interpreting Them)
  • Brian Callender (University of Chicago) and María José Mompeán Mejías (University of Alicante) – Developing a Comic for Clinical Communication Training
  • Conor McClure (Ulster University, Belfast) – Drawing Under Pressure: Graphic Medicine as a Bridge Between Lived Experience, Digital Health Research and Policy in Belfast
  • A. David Lewis (MCPHS University) – Digging through Craig Thompson’s Ginseng Roots

• Lightning Talks – Aging, Dementia, Parkinson’s, and Care Networks (Mudd 100) Speakers:
  • Aaradhana Natarajan (Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine) – Beyond Pathology: Women Negotiating Geriatric Identity in Graphic Narratives
  • Lingsheng Li, Krista Harrison, Theresa Allison, M Music (UCSF) – Illustrating Caregiving Experiences: A Novel Use of Graphic Narratives in Dementia Care Research
  • Diego Matos, José Carlos Gómez, Francisco Javier Rubio, Enrique Nieto, Pablo Rey, and Francisco Sáez de Adana (Complejo Asistencial Universitario de Salamanca, Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, Universidad de Alcalá) – “A Melody in My Head:” Informing About Alzheimer’s Diagnosis with Graphic Medicine
  • J.D. Lunt (GMIC Cartoonist Liaison) – Music Makes Community and Comics Reflect on that Community: Bobby McFerrin and Parkinson’s
• Lightning Talks – Systems, Public Health, and Innovations in Graphic Medicine (Gilman 50)
  Speakers:
  • Brian Callender (University of Chicago), Michael Green (Penn State College of Medicine), Alex Thomas (Booster Shot Media), Julie Chor (University of Chicago), Sarah Horvath (Penn State College of Medicine), and Lisa Harris (University of Michigan) – Comics from the Frontlines of Abortion Care
  • Daniel Delmonaco (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) – Graphic Medicine and the Realities of American Health Insurance
  • Sarah Febres-Cordero, Athena F. Sherman, Biyeshi Kumsa, Meredith Klepper, Fawaz Shanun, Sophie Grant, Brenice Duroseau, Sharon L. Leslie, Pranav Gupta, Abigail Béliveau, Pa| Landerfelt, Sydney Cohen, Carissa Lawrence, Whitney Linsenmeyer, Monique Balthazar, Don Operario (Emory University) – A Scoping Review of Graphic Medicine Interventions to Promote Changes in Health Behavior, Health Service Engagement, and Health Outcomes
  • Justus Humphrey (Penn State) – Moving Beyond the Anecdotal: The Potential for Experimental Narrative Flow in Graphic Medicine
  • Steven Scaglione (Nationwide Children’s Hospital) – Color Aliasing
  • Rebecca Schwarz (The University of Texas at Austin) – The Plague Doctor Project: Observing Public Health, Past, Present, and Future
  • John Brennan (University of Utah Health) – MD: Medieval Doctor (A Progress Report)

 

4:30-4:45 p.m.	Coffee Break	Mudd Atrium
4:45-6:00 p.m.	Closing Session: GMIC Awards, Announcements, Concluding Remarks	Mudd 26
7 p.m.	Book Event	Red Emma’s