Health Highlight: Fri. 28, Apr.
A peek into the world of comic books based in healthcare settings and how the genre is changing.
Health Highlights workflow is powered by Glasp.co, Neeva, and Perplexity.ai; produced using iA Writer and Keynote.
Have a question? Want to be a sponsor? Get in touch: carlosfranco.bio
🧠 Learn, ❤️ Like, 🤝 Share, and 📩 Subscribe!
THE BRIEF
In this interview by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), Soha Bayoumi, PhD., Assistant Dean of Harvard College, lecturer in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University, and Senior Lecturer at Johns Hopkins 1 2, presents the history, function, and reshaping of Graphic Medicine as a vehicle for understanding and depicting the roles and experiences of patients, parents, and healthcare workers.
In her interview, Dr. Bayoumi talks about when she first encountered Graphic Medicine, how she now teaches a course on it, and how she has participated in Graphic Medicine conferences like the 2012 Toronto Conference—Comics and Medicine: Navigating the Margins and the upcoming Covidity and Comics: Graphic Medicine from Singapore.
Dr. Bayoumi explores how the COVID-19 pandemic widened the focus of the Graphic Medicine genre to include the viewpoints and perspectives of those disproportionately affected by the pandemic—black and indigenous people of color (BIPOC); and in that way, the genre lends itself to addressing social justice in medicine.
What is Graphic Medicine?
The use of comics to convey personal narratives about health and illness as told through accounts by patients, family members, doctors, nurses, and others. 3
Put more succinctly by doctor and cartoonist, Ian Williams, “Graphic Medicine is the intersection of the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare.” 4
Is Graphic Medicine new?
Medical illustrations and graphical representations have roots that go back to the origins of the medical field, “For over 2000 years artists have illustrated the intricate structure of the body, creating images to elucidate medical procedures and record the pathologies of the body.” 5 As a genre, Graphic Medicine has been around since the early 1980s.
“Comics have been used for public health purposes for decades. For example, in the 1980s and 90s, comics such as “The Adventures of Bleachman” and “AIDS News,” were used as outreach by activists and health agencies as the AIDS crisis unfolded.” 6
Okay, I’m interested, tell me more…
Below are some resources mentioned and used while making this Health Highlight.
You can watch the NLM Interview here (runtime 1h 2m):
More articles about Graphic Medicine
MAKING A CASE FOR COMIC BOOKS IN THE CLASSROOM circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov
GRAPHIC MEDICINE: CLASS RESOURCES
A CONVERSATION ABOUT GRAPHIC MEDICINE
LIFE DURING THE LOCKDOWN
SICK NOTES
Keywords 🏷️: #ComicBooks #GraphicMedicine #Healthcare #BIPOC #COVID19 #PatientEducation
NOTES
“Soha Bayoumi, PhD. Harvard University: Profile Page” https://scholar.harvard.edu/sbayoumi/home
“Soha Bayoumi, PhD. John Hopkins University: Profile Page” https://krieger.jhu.edu/msh/directory/soha-bayoumi/
“Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived & Well-Drawn” https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/graphicmedicine/index.html
“Graphic Medicine: What is Graphic Medicine?” https://methodistcol.libguides.com/graphicmedicine
“History of Medical Illustration” https://ami.org/professional-resources/advocacy/legal-news/27-main/medical-illustration/49-history-of-medical-illustration
“Graphic Medicine in Public Health” https://www.graphicmedicine.org/resources/liaison-program/public-health/