Transforming Science and Medicine Through Medical Illustration

In our exhibit, we will be unveiling the work of medical and scientific illustrators. The general audience often learns about science and the human body through books, science textbooks and online resources. The graphics and illustrations in these resources are all created by medical illustrators, if they are not produced directly from photographs. In our exhibit we will showcase how medical illustrators produce visuals the public may have used but never knew who was behind the artwork. We will walk through our creative process, the importance of medical illustration and its history. Artwork such as anatomical and natural science illustrations, observational sketches, and animation stills will be displayed around the booth. The audience will also be able to view historical medical illustration work, such as the anatomical studies of Leonardo da Vinci, the famous COVID-19 molecular model, and scientific artwork from more than 300 years ago with the guidance of our medical illustration graduate students! Then, the audience may have questions about how medical illustrations are used in modern eras. In medical illustration, art and design techniques are heavily used to solve scientific visual problems and translate complex information. To explain this process, we will be showing zooplate illustrations that are displayed in natural history museums, patient education leaflets, 3D models that help educate physicians and researchers, and medical animations. In addition, we will showcase how we get accurate references for illustrations from medical imaging techniques using the software Horos to cross-section organs using CT/MRI data. Now is the time to have fun! We will invite our audience to participate in activities with printed coloring pages to identify organs and redesign in their own ways, 3D printed models, anatomical tattoos, and anatomy stickers will be available for exhibit visitors to take away with their newfound knowledge of medical illustration!

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy Surgical Illustration

Tricuspid Valve Annuloplasty Surgical Illustration

History of RIT Medical Illustration Program (Part 1)

Histopathology of GERD Illustration

Giraffe Weevil Zooplate Illustration

Horizontal Gene Transfer in Neisseria

Alzheimer's disease with beta-amyloid plaques