2014 Baltimore Conference

Comics & Medicine:

From Private Lives to Public Health

June 26th to 28th, 2014 at the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Keynote Speakers:

Ellen Forney,

Arthur W. Frank,

James Sturm (keynote available for viewing here)

Carol Tilley

Lydia Gregg, Organizer of the 2014 Comics and Medicine conference.

I’m an instructor and medical illustrator in the Division of Interventional Neuroradiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. I teach medical illustration as part of a full time joint appointment in the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine. My work in radiology involves illustrating, animating and writing about the neurovascular conditions treated in the division for medicalpublications and websites. In addition, I create patient communication material such as brochures, medical comics and educational videos. I also write and draw comics and run ProAtlantal Studio with my husband, Fabian de Kok-Mercado. I’ve been creating and publishing comics that involve scientific and medical concepts for over a decade. First as shorts published in graphic anthologies, and now as part of my job as a medical illustrator. The doctors I work with manage and treat many rare and under-diagnosed cerebrovascular conditions. Some of these conditions can be more easily explained with imagery and a storyline that are relevant to the patient’s experiences and concerns. I’m interested in how comics can help patients by altering their perceptions of various conditions.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Department of Art as Applied to Medicine in collaboration with Graphic Medicine sponsored the fifth Comics & Medicine conference, a gathering of healthcare professionals, artists, academic scholars, comics enthusiasts, students, and various stakeholder groups. The organizing committee was chaired by Lydia Gregg, Instructor, Medical Illustrator, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Lydia was assisted by Cory Sandone, also a medical illustrator and professor in of the Art as Applied to Medicine program at Johns Hopkins.