MEDICAL ILLUSTRATION

Per the adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and Einstein’s quote, “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough,” illustrations can help us convey complex ideas succinctly and beautifully.  I first started doing medical illustration as an undergraduate student.  Subsequently, I integrated this into my research articles and grants, and those of my collaborators.   Through my oncologic training, I started contributing contributed content and created illustrations for  CancerQuest to help patients understand cancer treatment options.  I am currently exploring the use of illustrations to explain multidisciplinary care and radiation oncology to cancer patients.   The illustrations are typically first drawn by hand and/or imported from digital media (e.g. a photograph); they are digitally integrated, overlayed, and modified using imaging software (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator).