Longtime collaborators in Graphic Medicine, Alex Thomas and Gary Ashwal have had their asthma education comic, Iggy and The Inhalers, printed. Graphic Medicine is eagerly awaiting a copy. In the mean time, the collaborative duo have put the whole thing online here. The website teaches kids with asthma about asthma symptoms, asthma treatment, and asthma medications using comics, videos, and free downloads. Considering he is a board-certified pediatric allergist, and has spent a good deal of his adult life treating sick children, Alex Thomas, MD is a ridiculously good draughtsman. I’m jealous of his drawing skills. Gary and Alex… Read More
New Podcast: An Interview with Alex Thomas & Gary Ashwal
Alex Thomas and Gary Ashwal are the creators of Iggy & The Inhalers. Their collaborative work helps kids (and adults) learn about the pathophysiology of asthma and how to properly use their inhalers. Alex and Gary sat down with me recently to discuss their past, present and future collaborative work. You can listen to their presentation at the Toronto Comics & Medicine conference here. Their work appears on their website, Booster Shot Comics. And here is the asthma education video that Alex and Gary were making the morning of our conversation. It’s great, check it out!
Graphic Medicine at ASBH
The theme of this year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities was “Tradition, Innovation, and Moral Courage.” The meeting was held October 24-27 in Atlanta, GA. (Photos by Michael Green.) From the abstract for the panel “Graphic Medicine @ Work: Outcomes When the Intervention is a Comic” : The last several years have seen a rise in graphic novels depicting medical experiences and graphic stories used for patient education purposes. A handful of preliminary studies suggest that the use of illustrations on health instructions increase patient engagement with and recollection of the information presented. Three studies further… Read More
New Podcast Wednesday: Lydia Gregg and Iggy & The Inhalers
Use the Quicktime player above to view images along with the audio. If you don’t have Quicktime, you can listen to the audio-only version below. This is the second half of the “Comics in Patient Education” panel from this year’s Graphic Medicine conference in Toronto. If you are able, be sure to check out the images that accompany both the talks as they are quite impressive! First up is Lydia Gregg with her paper, “Interpreting the unfamiliar: comics as a tool for improving care of pediatric patients with retinoblastoma.” The comic and treatment diary Lydia discusses can be viewed on the study… Read More
Paul Gravett’s Toronto Keynote
Use the Quicktime player above to view images along with the audio. If you don’t have Quicktime, you can listen to the audio-only version below. New Podcast Wednesdays are back! To open the many podcasts that will emerge from the 2012 Toronto Comics & Medicine conference, comics historian, commentator, publisher, and Comica festival organizer Paul Gravett gave the opening keynote to the Toronto Comics & Medicine conference, “Setting the Context: Developments in Graphic Medicine.” Enjoy our new podcast feed. It is not yet available via iTunes, but, fingers crossed, it will be shortly.
Conference Reading List
Gary Ashwal over at Booster Shot Comics presents a “Reading List Before Comics & Medicine.” Great idea, Gary! Looking forward to meeting you and Alex and hearing about your work.