Comic books, graphic novels, and a novel approach to teaching anatomy and surgery

Art has been an integral component of the exploration of the human body for thousands of years, and drawing part of our evolutionary history and one our best adaptations for communicating and acquiring knowledge. As a biology educator and artist, I had been using drawing for my entire career to bring students closer to the natural world and assist them in deepening their understanding of form. I have used a variety of teaching techniques in biology and anatomy. More recently I discovered that I could transfer my visual narrative of biology using drawing and comic books to my anatomy classes and to surgical residents and medical students. This merger of fine art and life sciences resulted in a fine arts show, two published papers, and pedagogy of a comic book and graphic novel genre that taught anatomy drawing to medical and anatomy students through surgical narrative.