Graphic medicine refers to “the intersection between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare,”according to founder Ian Williams.
Graphic medicine includes many kinds of visual narratives — comics, graphic novels, infographics, and more — that describe experiences of illness, disability, seeking healthcare, and providing healthcare. These stories accumulate to diversify and enrich our cultural understandings of healthcare experiences, to improve wellness outcomes, and to bridge divides between patients and medical professionals.
About the Collection
Albion College Library has built its Graphic Medicine Collection to invite our campus community to have broader, more open conversations about healthcare topics and to encourage engagement with this fascinating field in our classes, our research projects, and our leisure reading.
Titles in the Albion College Graphic Medicine Collection include books that aim to:
Share and validate human experiences in fiction and non-fiction;
Diversify the viewpoints from which we understand illness and disability;
Give more power to patients;
Explore the challenges of healthcare while prioritizing empathy, equity, and ethics;
Reimagine the imagery of illness;
Support patients and family members in processing medical-related trauma; and
Bridge healthcare divides between patients and providers.
Helpful Resources
The resources below offer an overview of graphic medicine from some superstars of the field, including medical practitioners, cartoonists and other artists, teachers and scholars, and folks from a variety of related professions. After exploring these resources, and you’ll have a good sense of what graphic medicine is all about!
The Graphic Medicine website, founded by Ian Williams in 2007, is the online hub for the graphic medicine community. The website is now run by the Graphic Medicine International Collective and offers book reviews, information on its annual conference, and resources for anyone interested in graphic medicine. This community is also active on Facebook and YouTube.
“How Comics Can Help Us Heal,” MK Czerwiec at Albion College, March 2022
Nurse, comics artist, and educator MK Czerwiec gives the 2022 Anna Howard Shaw Keynote Address. "How Comics Can Help Us Heal" discusses how comics can help us identify emotional labor and create opportunities for self-care in healthcare professions.
“Holy Graphic Medicine, Batman!” Michael Green for the Association of American Medical Colleges, October 2017
Michael Green, MD, MS, Penn State College of Medicine, on the super power comics have to draw clinicians, patients together.
“Comic Relief for Medicine,” Lydia Gregg for Johns Hopkins Medicine, June 2014
Comics in medicine allow patients to better understand treatment options, destigmatize illness and explore their personal perceptions of sickness in a more meaningful way, notes Johns Hopkins medical illustrator Lydia Gregg, who hosted an international conference called Comics & Medicine at Johns Hopkins in June 2014.
“Comics Make Medicine Less Scary for Young Patients,” June Soh for Voice of America broadcast, July 2014
A growing number of comics and graphic novels are finding their way into medical exam rooms. Experts say that especially for young patients, comics can be a great tool to explain what can be a scary medical process in an easy and entertaining manner. The increasing and varied use of graphic arts was the focus of a recent Comics and Medicine conference at Johns Hopkins Medical Campus in Maryland. VOA's June Soh talked with physicians there.
Selected Items from the Collection
Below are a few highlights from the Albion College Graphic Medicine Collection. If you’re looking to explore comics or stories about medical experiences for the first time, any of these books would be a great place to start.
Most of these books tell true stories about real people’s experiences with illnesses, disabilities, medical care, and diagnosis or treatment. Some of them are touching, some are humorous, and any of them might give you just the glimpse of human connection you are looking to find.
But these are just highlights — for full access to all the titles you can borrow, click here!
Some books about anxiety, depression, and mental health
Cy, E. K. Weaver, and Ivanka Hahnenberger, Radium Girls (2022)
Selected Items from the Collection
One of the goals of graphic medicine is to build better understandings of human experiences of illness, disease, and disability — from the perspective of the experts who live through these experiences. For this reason, graphic medicine is increasingly incorporated into the graduate education of medical professionals.
The following selections from the Albion College Graphic Medicine Collection are geared toward teaching and learning to improve the practice of medicine and bridge divides among patients, providers, and caretakers.
But these are just highlights —for full access to all the titles you can borrow, click here!
Some books from the perspective of medical professionals
Using the Graphic Medicine Collection in your classroom
Graphic storytelling is a popular way to convey information across fields and age ranges. Titles from the Albion College Graphic Medicine Collection may fit well into classes as diverse as biology and gender studies, elementary education and art history, ethnic studies and psychology — there are no limits!
To discuss opportunities and ideas for using the Albion College Graphic Medicine Collection in your courses, please contact Krista Quesenberry, English Department at kquesenberry@albion.edu or Albion College Library at library@albion.edu.
For a complete list of the titles in the collection,click here, and for full access to all the titles you can borrow or place on course reserves, click here!
Some reference materials in our Graphic Medicine Collection
“INSIGHTS,” Mayo Clinic Transform Symposium 2013 with MK Czerwiec and Michael Green, October 2013 MK Czerwiec and Michael Green, M.D., discuss the role of comics in transforming health care through the use of graphic medicine at Transform 2013, sponsored by the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation.
Some recent articles and resources written for general audiences
Graphic medicine shows the creator’s experiences of illness and health through a medium that is approachable and relatable. Artists and authors have drawn and written about cancer, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s Disease, sexual assault, and more.
Explore this Exhibition Collection of graphic medicine works that are part of the resources of the National Library of Medicine.
Online resources for Graphic Medicine
Graphic medicine doesn’t only happen between the pages of a book! Graphic medicine is also being created in digital platforms and for online distribution.
Some web resources for finding comics, learning about comics, and exploring graphic medicine in the digital world:
PathoGraphics — Research and resources from an international collaborative project based in Berlin (2016–2021).
MakingComics.com — A world of resources for newbies who want to explore comics creation.
The Nib — Award-winning online publisher of comics and home to many graphic medicine titles. Search away!
Some examples of online graphic medicine — many of these are award winners!
Frontline Comics Project — A collaboration between medical workers during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and comics artists, demonstrating graphic medicine for public good and broad understanding (ongoing).
Public Health Insider — A team of comics artists telling public health stories from the Seattle-King County area of Washington State (ongoing).
Annals of Graphic Medicine — Academic graphic medicine publications from the Annals of Internal Medicine journal (ongoing).
Graphic Narratives — Collection of comics by fourth-year medical students at Penn State Hershey Medical School, taught by Michael Green (2009–2020).
The Albion College Graphic Medicine Collection is a living resource. If you’ve used this resource guide or checked out a book from the collection, we want to hear from you! Otherwise, if you think there’s a book we need to add or a resource we need to know about, we want you to share it with us!
Please submit questions, comments, and suggestions to the Google Form below or contact Krista Quesenberry, English Department at kquesenberry@albion.edu or Albion College Library at library@albion.edu.
