Graphic Medicine Podcast

In this engaging conversation, Dr. Patricia Brennan, the groundbreaking Director of the National Library of Medicine, shares her expertise on graphic medicine. She emphasizes the power of comics in representing diverse health experiences and enhancing health literacy. The discussion highlights how libraries can empower communities through curated health resources and training for librarians. Brennan also explores the use of graphic novels to address complex themes like end-of-life decisions, showcasing their ability to foster understanding and compassion in healthcare.

2017 Seattle conference keynote Hillary Chute discusses comics in the area of illness and disability. This talk is based on a chapter of her new book Why Comics? From Underground to Everywhere. Download episode.

Mita Mahato, a Seattle-based artist and associate professor, dives into the transformative world of graphic medicine. She explores how comics can facilitate crucial conversations about healthcare, showcasing the diverse voices at the Seattle Comics and Medicine Conference. The discussion highlights the power of graphic memoirs as tools for navigating the complexities of the medical system, alongside the importance of patient narratives in fostering empathy. Mahato also examines how comics can articulate experiences of trauma and promote understanding in the context of modern healthcare.

Welcome to a new season of the Graphic Medicine Podcast! On today’s show, audio from the opening night of the Seattle Comics & Medicine conference, Thursday June 15. You will hear from three speakers in a row. The first will be Seattle conference organizer and host Mita Mahato. Mita is a Seattle-based cut paper, collage, and comics artist, whose work explores the transformative capacities of found and handmade papers. She is also an Associate Professor of English at the University of Puget Sound, serves on the board for the arts organization Short Run Seattle, one of the sponsors of the Comics & Medicine conference. You can learn more about Mita’s work on her website, theseframesarehidingplaces.com. Mita’s opening remarks touch on the theme of the conference, Access Points. After her opening remarks, Mita will introduce Matthew Noe, librarian from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Graphic Medicine fellow for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Northeast Region. Matthew will pose the opening query: “What Does the Literature Say?” (Spoiler: He needs your help!) You can contact Matthew at Matthew dot Noe at umassmed dot edu or @NoetheMatt on Twitter. Finally, Mita will introduce our last speaker for the episode, Jared Gardner. Jared is a Professor in the Department of English specializing in American literature, comics, film and popular culture. He is the author of Master Plots: Race and the Founding of an American Literature, 1787-1845; Projections: Comics and the History of 21st-century Storytelling; and The Rise and Fall of Early American Magazine Culture. Other books and writings can be found at jaredgardner.org and he is @guttergeek on Twitter. He also serves as director of the Popular Culture Studies program at OSU and as editor of Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society. Jared’s opening lecture is titled “Social Ills: Graphic Medicine Beyond the Clinic.” Download episode.

In this new episode of the Graphic Medicine Podcast, we hear from the creative team behind the wonderful graphic medicine narrative “Keeper of the Clouds” – writer Liza Futerman and illustrator Evi Tampold. We’ll also hear from Seattle Conference chief organizer-on-the-ground Mita Mahato. She’ll tell us a few insider tips about Seattle and what we can expect. Download episode.

This episode features a conversation with Tyler Page, creator of Raised on Ritalin: A Personal Story of ADHD, Medication, and Modern Psychiatry. Download episode. 

My guests on this episode are Monica Lalanda, an emergency room physician from Spain, and Muna AlJawad, a geriatrician from Brighton, UK. Both of them are making and using comics in their medical practice. Find out how in this episode! Support for this podcast comes from Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Humanities, the nation’s oldest Humanities Department within a medical school, pioneers of innovations in medical education since 1967. Download episode.

On this week’s show, two doctors making comics. First up is an interview with Carlo Jose San Juan, the creator of Callous Comics, a comic strip from the Philippines that tells the story of a doctor and her guardian duck. Later in the episode I talk with Ian Williams about his weekly Guardian strip Sick Notes. The Graphic Medicine podcast is brought to you by Penn State Hershey College of Medicine, Department of Humanities. Download episode.