What is a Medical Illustrator?

Medical illustration, or biomedical visualization, is the pracice of representing aspects of medicine and science in figital, modeling, or printed form. Medical illustrators work in various fields from legal to pharmaceutical; publishing, health promotion, and surgical settings. Medical illustrators typically have earned an undergraduate egree in some field of art or science, and subsequently earn a graduate degree. Medical illustrators have the option to freelance, to work for an organization, or to work at a university, among many options.

The Primary Organization
to which Medical Illustrators Refer

The Association of Medical Illustrators, AMI, was instituted to maintain the standards for training in medical illustration and to provide ethical guidelines for practice:

AMI Headquarters
1819 Peachtree Street, N.E., Suite 620
Atlanta, Georgia 30309 U.S.A.
(404) 350-7900, Fax: (404) 351-3348

Graduate Programs

Many illustrators go on to earn Master's degrees in biomedical visualization or biomedical communication. There are five programs in North America that provide Master's degrees in medical illustration. The programs listed below are accredited by the AMI. The University of Toronto program is the first in the world to offer a Ph.D. in biomedical visualization.

• University of Toronto
  Division of Biomedical Communications
  Located on two campuses at the University of Toronto:

  U of T Mississauga Campus
  Room 308, Terrence Donnelly Health Sciences Complex
  3359 Mississauga Road North
  Mississauga, ON Canada L5L 1C6
  Phone: 905-569-4849
  Fax: 905-569-4847
  U of T St. George Campus
  Room 75, Fitzgerald Building
  150 College Street
  Toronto ON Canada M5S 3E2
  Phone: 416-978-2659

  Email

   

• Dept. of Medical Illustration
  Georgia Health Sciences University
  1120 15th Street, CJ1101
  Augusta, GA 30912-0300
  Phone: 706-721-3266
  Fax: 706-721-7855

  Email

   

• University of Illinois
  Department of Biomedical Visualization
  College of Associated Health Professions
  University of Illinois at Chicago
  1919 W. Taylor Street, Room 213, M/C 527
  Chicago, Illinois 60612
  Tel: (312) 996-4975
  Fax: (312) 996-8342
  (312) 996-7337

  Email

   

  Johns Hopkins University

• Medical and Biological Illustration Graduate Program
  Department of Art as Applied to Medicine
  The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
  1830 E. Monument Street, Suite 7000
  Baltimore, Maryland 21205-2100
  Tel: (410) 955-3213
  Fax: (410) 955-1085

  Email

   

• The University of Texas-Southwestern Medical School-Dallas

  Biomedical Communications Graduate Program
  Dept. of Health Care Sciences
  The University of Texas
  Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
  5323 Hines Blvd.
  Dallas, Texas 75235-8881
  Tel: (214) 648-4699
  Fax: (214) 648-5353

  Email

   

The United Kingdom has an organization for medical illustrators as well:

Institute of Medical Illustration UK

 

A few links to begin exploring

1. Association of Medical Illustrators Question and Answer Page .
2. The question about how e-books can be making use of medical illustrations dynamically.
3. What it's like as a medical illustrator
4. Med Monthly's article about medical illustration
5. A personal perspective
6. Wikipedia's article on medical illustration
7. Leonardo DaVinci's Anatomical Drawings
8. Wikipedia's Frank Netter article
9. Wikipedia's Max Brodel article
10. Wikipedia's Andreas Vesalius article
11. Eila Hopper Ross article

Laura Maaske, B.Sc., M.Sc.BMC
Racine, WI 53402
Cell: (262) 308-1300
Contact Laura

Text Copyright © Medimagery - Laura Maaske LLC

Next: Explore Anatomy.

Illustration © 2012 Dendreon, illustrated by Laura Maaske - Medimagery LLC.

We specialize in highly interactive dynamic medical illustrations for both print and e-publishing. Content is dynamic and interactive, or traditional. Illustrations are prepared for advertising, pharmaceutical, publishing, health promotion, health professional education, children, and medical-legal resources. All medical, e-book illustrations, dynamic and conceptual artwork are prepared by hand for the client's unique needs. All materials Copyright © - Laura Maaske - Medimagery LLC. Call Laura at 262-308-1300 with questions or to request a price quote.