Artful Medicine
In 1933, IUSM’s Department of Medical Illustration was
establishedto aid clinicians and researchers. Today, with added
services and a name change,the folks in the Office of Visual Media
serve all of IU and beyond.
The eyebrows are mildly bushy and the jaw line strong. A glance
at the bust reveals to those who know him that this is a bronze
likeness of Morris Green, MD, former physician-in-chief at James
Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children for two decades.
Dr. Green’s bust is one of many sculptures on campus that
have been produced over the years by the artists in the IUSM Office
of Visual Media. Bas-reliefs, three-dimensional medals, cast medallions
and plaques are some of the other products of the office originally
known as Medical Illustration.
Even their peers recognize their skill; the IUSM office creates
the medallion and brass plaque that is awarded annually for expertise
in the field by the Association of Medical Illustrators. The award
carries the name of the father of modern medical illustration, Max
Brödel.
The office, established in 1933 by IUSM Dean Willis Gatch, MD,
was one of the first in the nation. Its first director was James
F. Glore. The second was Craig Gosling, and between the two, they
account for the first seventy years of the department’s history.
Thomas Weinzerl has been carrying on the tradition since 2001.
Gosling was a recipient of the Brödel Award of Excellence
in Education in 2001 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002,
the highest honor awarded for his craft. He is well known for developing
realistic models of the human body for diagnostic instruction.
One of his first models, Breast Examination Tactile Simulator Instruction
(BETSI) was reproduced for national use. Gosling is noted for perfecting
the plastic skin used in more realistic anatomical models.
Designing teaching models and patient simulators is an important
part of the medical sculptor’s job. By producing lifelike
plastic models, medical and nursing students gain diagnostic opportunities
otherwise not available to them. The flesh-colored knee simulator
can be adjusted from normal to impaired to give students the feel
of a patient’s knee affected by a torn ligament or some other
injury. The same diagnostic opportunities apply to multiple other
models where the sense of touch is key to correct diagnosis.
The office’s medical illustrators also open the physiological
and scientific world to students and the public.
“This is a left-brain/right-brain activity,” says Weinzerl
in explaining what the illustrators do best. “They take medical
or scientific information and distill that into creative visual
solutions to be more readily understood.”
The illustrators receive the same anatomy and physiology training
through coursework and anatomy labs that medical students do. Their
training also includes many hours of observation and sketching of
surgical procedures in an operating room, similar to courtroom sketching.
They produce artwork for presentations, publications, textbooks,
Web sites and medical legal documents, as well as two-dimensional
and three-dimensional animations. The field is very competitive
since only seven universities in North America offer a master’s
degree in medical illustration and only two offer bachelor’s
degrees.
Another focus of the office is photography. The four professional
Visual Media photographers can be seen at any given time anywhere
on the medical center campus, recording a groundbreaking surgery,
a student event or something as high profile as the week-long assembly
of the Dale Chihuly DNA glass tower that graces the atrium of the
VanNuys Medical Sciences Building as a tribute to the School’s
centennial celebration (see the winter issue).
Graphic designers assist faculty and staff by creating free-standing
exhibits, brochures, posters, signs, and a host of other print documents
used to advance the education and research mission of the School.
There are many physicians in Indiana who are already familiar with
a regular production created by the multi-media experts in Visual
Media. The award-winning continuing medical education program Riley
Today is a video journal distributed twice yearly to nearly 3,000
pediatricians and family practice physicians.
The Office of Visual Media also created a CD to recruit medical
residents and interactive CD programs for educational purposes.
The division also won awards with an interactive computer game designed
to help teenage girls stop smoking cigarettes. The project was in
collaboration with the IU schools of Nursing and Informatics.
The latest addition to Visual Media’s creations is much
more whimsical. Picture this: a desktop model of your favorite faculty
instructor or family physician with his or her head wobbling cheerfully.
Visual Media has joined the craze and is producing bobble-head dolls
upon request.
Visual Media has proven time and again it is up to the challenge
of assisting the School with its enhanced mission of education,
research and clinical care. The office’s services also are
available to medical alumni, physician practices throughout the
state, private companies and all who are in need of a visual path
to communications.
For more detailed information about the Office of Visual Media,
visit its Web site at http://visualmedia.iusm.iu.edu.
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