Diverse Voices: Graphic Medicine
Date and Time
– January 25, 2024, 4:00 PM ESTVirtual Only
The January 2024 session of Diverse Voices: Intersectionality and the Health of Women is titled “Graphic Medicine.” The session will feature presentations by MK Czerwiec and Whit Taylor on graphic medicine, or the use of comics to tell personal stories of illness and health.
Nurse, artist, and educator MK Czerwiec will describe the history and current state of the intersection of comics and health. Then she will discuss the role that comics can play in research, specifically in women’s health, and will provide examples of methodology, interventions, and outcomes. She will also discuss the aim of some of her own comics, as well as goals for her future work.
Cartoonist, editor, and health educator Whit Taylor will discuss the application of comics to health education, public health, and women’s health. Taylor will then share editorial insights and examples of health education and public health comics that effectively reach readers.
MK Czerwiec, R.N., M.A.
Nurse, Cartoonist, and Graphic Medicine Educator at Northwestern Medical School and University of Chicago
MK Czerwiec is a nurse, cartoonist, and educator. Her clinical nursing experience is in HIV/AIDS care and hospice care. Czerwiec has published comics under the pseudonym Comic Nurse since 2000. She is the creator of the graphic memoir Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371, editor of the two-time Eisner Award–winning Menopause: A Comic Treatment, and a co-author of Graphic Medicine Manifesto. Czerwiec regularly teaches graphic medicine at Northwestern Medical School, the School of the Art Institute, and the University of Chicago. She has served as a Senior Fellow of the George Washington School of Nursing Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement and as the Artist-in-Residence at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine.
Whit Taylor, M.P.H.
Cartoonist, Editor, and Public Health Educator
Whit Taylor is an Ignatz Award–winning cartoonist, editor, and public health educator. Taylor has a B.A. in cultural anthropology from Brown University and an M.P.H. in social and behavioral Health from Boston University School of Public Health. Taylor’s comics have been published by The Nib, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Little, Brown Young Readers, Radiator Comics, Silver Sprocket, and others. Taylor’s and Joyce Rice’s public health history graphic novel, The Greater Good, will be published by First Second in 2025.
Sign language interpreting services are available upon request. Individuals who need interpreting services and/or other reasonable accommodations to participate in this event should contact Dr. Elizabeth Barr at Elizabeth.barr@nih.gov or via phone at 301-402-7895. Requests should be made at least five days in advance.