Humanities - Graphic Storytelling Project

Graphic Storytelling & Medical Narratives

A collection of graphic stories by fourth-year medical students at Penn State College of Medicine

In February, 2009 and again in 2010, fourth year medical students at Penn State College of Medicine enrolled in an elective course in Medical Humanities called “Graphic Storytelling and Medical Narratives.” The course was developed to show fourth-year medical students “how graphics and text can be used to effectively communicate complex medical narratives, and [to] develop their own stories into graphic depictions.”

Taught seminar-style, the course requirements were minimal: participate in all classroom activities, be good colleagues to one another, and produce a short, original, illustrated story, or “Comic.”

Of course not all medical students are naturally gifted writers or artists, but as one can see from the following pages, everyone can tell stories and everyone can draw pictures. While this course was unlike any other in their medical school experience, the students rose to the task, sharing their refl ections on becoming a doctor with honesty, wit, and creativity.

Enjoy the following Graphic Storytelling and Medical Narratives by the medical students at Penn State College of Medicine!

Michael Green, MD, MS, FACP
Course Director
Professor of Humanities and Medicine

 

2009 Class
 2010 Class