Graphic Medicine at Countway

Welcome! Explore this page to learn about:

• The Graphic Medicine Collection at Countway
• Countway Graphic Medicine in the News
• Upcoming Events
• Past Events
  • New England Graphic Medicine Summit
• Other graphic artists to check out

Graphic Medicine Collection

Graphic medicine is a field of study, community of practice, and genre of comics that is commonly defined as the intersection of the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare. In 2018, Countway Library began supporting this then emerging, now burgeoning, field through the development of a dedicated graphic medicine collection and programming such as author talks, book clubs, and creative workshops geared towards sharing the power of comics with the Longwood community. In the time since, the library's collection has grown to become one of the largest circulating collections related to graphic medicine in the world and we've supported countless students, faculty, and staff in their exploration of how comics, and the creative visual arts more generally, can support the mission of Harvard Medical School.

Patrons can peruse the Graphic Medicine Collection via HOLLIS, or visit the collection in person on the second floor of Countway Library (check our building policies for access details).

Graphic Medicine in the News

Graphic Medicine Collection Highlighted on HMS Instagram 

Countway’s graphic medicine collection—one of the largest in the US—was recently featured on Harvard Medical School’s Instagram with librarian Matthew Noe! From memoirs to superheroes, this growing collection explores everything from caregiving to mental health, bridging research and public understanding through accessible storytelling.

Countway Participates in TCAF 2025

At the 2025 Toronto Comic Arts Festival—one of the largest independent comic arts festivals in the world—Countway librarian Matthew Noe co-led a “Graphic Medicine 101” panel. He discussed how comics can illuminate health, caregiving, and disability narratives, encouraging publishers to consider their work’s medical relevance. The festival drew an estimated 28,000 attendees and reinforced the growing visibility of graphic medicine in both academia and publishing.

Coverage from Publishers Weekly: 

Programming input from Matthew Noe of the Harvard Medical School Library, meanwhile, shined a light on graphic medicine. Noe pointed to titles at the fest foregrounding individual experiences wit health and wellness, including Rachel M. Thomas’s Shrink: Story of a Fat Girl (Graphic Mundi), a nuanced riposte to prevailing discourses on body image. “There are so many creators at TCAF engaging in the work already,” Noe told PW. “Part of the benefit of having us here and talking to publishers is trying to convince them to market these books as relevant to health and medicine. We’re gaining some traction."

An Interview with Matthew Noe on Graphic Medicine and Librarianship

Since 2018, Matthew Noe has been leading the charge for graphic medicine at HMS. As Countway’s Lead Collection and Knowledge Management Librarian and a Graphic Medicine International Collective board member, Matthew has brought a wealth of graphic medicine content, events and exhibits to Countway. Learn more in this Graphic Medicine Review interview!

Upcoming Events

Our calendar is constantly being updated! Browse our upcoming virtual and in-person graphic medicine events on our Events Calendar:

Past Events

Will Eisner Week Panel: Wait Time Is Over for Eisner's "Waiting-Room Willie"

March 2, 2026

More than 50 years ago, Will Eisner’s American Visuals Studio produced “The Sad Case of Waiting-Room Willie” for the Committee on Public Medical Health Education of the Baltimore Medical Society. This fascinating case of public health advocacy has long gone unexamined, particularly in the modern context of American healthcare.

The MCPHS University Center for Health Humanities and the Harvard Medical School's Countway Library brought together a team of local experts to honor Eisner’s legacy while also addressing some of our contemporary Graphic Medicine questions that plague Willie.

Panelists: 

Martha Gardner - Associate Professor of History and Social Sciences, MCPHS University
A. David Lewis - Associate Professor of English and Health Humanities, MCPHS University
Dan Mazur - Artist, Publisher; Will Eisner: A Comics Biography
Tavon Mei - Graphic Medicine Club representative, Boston University
Matthew Noe - Lead Collection and Knowledge Management Librarian, Countway Library (Moderator)

Recording and transcript from Wait Time Is Over for Eisner's "Waiting-Room Willie"

Author Series: Shrink: Story of a Fat Girl with Rachel M. Thomas, PhD

February 19, 2026

Countway Library and the MCPHS Center for Health Humanities co-hosted Rachel Thomas for an Author Series event. She discussed recent comic, Shrink, which seamlessly blends memoir and research, graphic medicine, and future directions for her work.

Book sales provided by Comicopia.

Derided by her high-school peers for being overweight, Rachel finally found a sense of purpose and belonging in a promising career as an EMT—that is, until her body got in the way.

Shrink is a work of graphic medicine that depicts the emotional and physical realities of inhabiting a large body in a world that is constantly warning about the medical and social dangers of being “too fat.” This smart and candid book challenges the idea that weight loss is the only path for a fat person and encourages the reader to question the prevailing cultural and medical discourse about fat bodies.

Seamlessly weaving the most current research on the fatness debate with her own experiences of living in a fat body, Thomas lays bare society’s obsession with size and advocates for each of us to push back on body weight bias and determine what’s right for our own health and well-being, both physical and mental. (Descripton from Shrink's publisher.)

Rachel M. Thomas, PhD is Assistant Professor of Comics, Graphic Novels, and Sequential Arts at Teesside University. She is an interdisciplinary artist/researcher whose work blurs the boundaries between traditional media, technology, and bio-fabrication.

Recording and transcript from Shrink

Author Series: An Evening with Jarrett J. Krosoczka

December 3, 2025

Jarrett J. Krosoczka is an award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author and illustrator of more than forty books for young readers, including the graphic memoir Hey, Kiddo, a finalist for the National Book Award, and its follow-up Sunshine, which won this year's Massachusetts Book Award, the first year of the new graphic novel award.

Realizing his books can inspire young readers beyond the page, Krosoczka founded the School Lunch Hero Day campaign and established a scholarship to fund art classes for underprivileged children in his hometown in western Massachusetts. Krosoczka will discuss his award-winning graphic novels, graphic medicine, and the power of comics storytelling.

This event was co-sponsored by Countway Library, the Boston Comic Arts Foundation, and the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo. 

New England Graphic Medicine Summit

October 24, 2025

Nearly 200 attendees gathered for the return of the New England Graphic Medicine (NEGM) Summit, featuring a half-day incubator designed to foster community and collaboration at the intersection of healthcare and comics across New England! Please enjoy this article from MCPHS University: New England Graphic Medicine Summit Draws Out the Human Side of Healthcare. 

Learn more about the New England Graphic Medicine Summit 2025.

Author Series: Heartcore: A Live Interview with Štěpánka Jislová

September 9, 2025

Countway Library and the MCPHS Center for Health Humanities were thrilled to welcome Czech creator Štěpánka Jislová to campus during her US tour!

Štěpánka joined us for a lively interview conducted by A. David Lewis, Associate Professor at MCPHS University, focused on her recent comic Heartcore, hailed by Foreword Reviews as "a searing graphic memoir" that seeks to break through unhealthy cycles of abuse and show how people can change for the better. This conversation was of great interest to those engaged with graphic medicine, mental health, trauma care, and anyone seeking to end generational cycles of harm.

Moderated audience Q&A by Matthew Noe, Lead Collection & Knowledge Management Librarian at Countway Library, followed the interview.

Štěpánka Jislová is an award-winning comics artist based in Prague and the cofounder of the Czech branch of Laydeez do Comics, an international organization that promotes female comic artists and their work. Jislová collaborated with Czech writer Tereza Čechová on the 2021 Muriel prize-winning Bez vlasů, later published by Graphic Mundi in English as Bald. Srdcovka (the original Czech edition of Heartcore) received the Muriel Award in three categories in 2024, including the main prize.

A Conversation with Deena Mohamed

December 5, 2024

Countway Library and the MCPHS Center for Health Humanities were thrilled to welcome Deena Mohamed to campus while she was in town for the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (MICE)!

Deena Mohamed is an Egyptian designer, illustrator, and writer, including of the award-winning urban fantasy comic Shubeik Lubeik, and loves to focus on work involving community development. Shubeik Lubeik's second act is of particular relevance to our communities, with its focus on mental health and what we actually want when we seek treatment.

Deena Mohamed first began making comics at eighteen, when she created the viral webcomic Qahera, a satirical superhero strip starring a visibly Muslim superheroine. Originally published in Arabic by Dar el Mahrousa in Egypt, Shubeik Lubeik was awarded Best Graphic Novel and the Grand Prize at the 2017 Cairo Comix Festival. She lives, works and is usually asleep in Cairo, Egypt.

Audio from A Conversation with Deena Mohamed

Traveling Exhibition: Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived and Well-Drawn!

January 9 - February 17, 2024 | Countway 1st Floor Atrium

The History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine is pleased to present our traveling banner exhibition Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived & Well-Drawn! Curated by cartoon artist Ellen Forney, the exhibition explores an increasingly popular, yet little-known literary field that uses comics to tell personal stories of illness and health. The language of words and pictures gives approachability and emotional impact to these personal stories, and even to the clinical data they sometimes include. “Graphic medicine is so effective for understanding clinical and emotional aspects of illness,” says Curator Ellen Forney.

The six-banner traveling exhibition Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived & Well-Drawn!, draws from seminal texts, newly procured by the US National Library of Medicine. The exhibition uses imagery and text from several of these personal stories told by the author as patient or caregiver. The NLM collects graphic medicine as an important facet of medical literature.

Graphic Medicine Event Series

In conjunction with the 2024 traveling exhibit "Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived and Well-Drawn!" provided by the National Library of Medicine, we were thrilled to present a series of events designed to highlight the breadth and depth of graphic medicine. We look forward to many similar events in the future!

Opening Panel: Defining Graphic Medicine

January 10, 2024

For six weeks, Countway Library played host to the National Library of Medicine's traveling exhibit on comics in medicine, titled Graphic Medicine Ill-Conceived and Well-Drawn!. Join us for an opening panel discussion that will help frame and explore the emergence of the field, the community, and the genre that we call graphic medicine. Our panelists, Cathy Leamy, A. David Lewis, and Joel Christian Gill, bring a wealth of experience not only in comics creation, but in the study and teaching of comics across a range of disciplines. The panel included a moderated discussion led by Countway librarian Matthew Noe and audience Q&A.

View the recording and transcript of the Defining Graphic Medicine event.

Visualizing Scholarly Communication

January 17, 2024

Countway librarians Iris Jahng and Scott Lapinski gave an introductory overview on the role visuals can and are playing in scholarly communication, including visual abstracts and sketchnotes.

View the recording and transcript of the Visualizing Scholarly Communication event.

Medicine in American Popular Graphics from Political Cartoons of the 1860s to Children’s Comic Books in the 1940s

January 25, 2024

In this illustrated talk, Professor Bert Hansen sketched out a century-long sequence of American comic and cartoon art that sets the stage for the “graphic medicine” movement flourishing today. Starting with Civil-War era political cartoons by the famous Thomas Nast, the talk explored humorous caricatures in Puck and Judge from the Gilded Age, and then glances at photojournalism and the story-telling style of LIFE magazine. The narrative ends with the explosive growth of the familiar action/adventure comics in the 1940s, many of which featured heroes like Walter Reed, Louis Pasteur, Edward Jenner, and Joseph Goldberger. This history illustrates how medicine and public health stories were being imagined by innovative graphic artists over a hundred years of changing media. Please note that this event was not recorded.

Zine Your Thesis!

January 30, 2024

Ever wondered how to explain your research to your friends or family? Something that would be visually appealing, maybe incorporate some panels, maybe even involve collages? Then we have an event for you! Join us for a zine making workshop with Julie Fiveash, Librarian for American Indigenous Studies at Harvard's Tozzer Library, where attendees will learn how to turn their thesis, dissertation, or essay into a zine. No prior zine making experience required - just come with some writing or research you'd like to turn into a zine! Examples and art supplies will be provided. 

Countway Reads: Ripple Effects

February 7, 2024

Storytelling is at the heart of medical and public health practice and Countway Library is here to help foster this tradition. Our Countway Reads initiative invites the community to read and learn together by engaging with creative works by people from all walks of life.

Join us to discuss the award-winning graphic novel Ripple Effects by Jordan Hart and Bruno Chiroleu. Ripple Effects explores life as a superhero with an invisible and incurable disease. The discussion will be facilitated by a Countway Library librarian. Light refreshments will be provided, and registration may include a free copy of the book for advanced reading. Seats are limited, so register early if possible!

Cartooning and Graphic Medicine Workshop: For the Healer, For Our Health, For Our Learning and Laughter

February 13, 2024

For the closing event of our Graphic Medicine exhibit series, we invite you to join us for a humor-filled cartooning workshop with Dr. Jack Maypole. Dr. Maypole is Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and an avid cartoonist, using pen and paper to capture the humor, absurdity, and joy of practicing pediatric medicine. His cartoons don't just amuse however; they also provide a pathway to discussing serious issues in medical practice today. From ethics to the electronic health record to inequality, comics can provide a window into the trials and tribulations of medicine. This workshop will provide some tips, tricks, and tools of the trade for beginning, or continuing, your own comics journey! Art supplies will be provided.

Graphic Medicine Display

January-February, 2024

Curated by the Center for the History of Medicine

This display was located in the large glass case inside the Huntington Avenue entrance

Engaging and educating medical students, patients, and the general public through illustration is as old as printing itself. Countway Library’s Center for the History of Medicine has an abundance of graphic materials dating from the sixteenth century to the present day in its rare book, archival, manuscript, and object collections that were created to convey medical and public health information to a variety of audiences (not to mention critique practice and sell products). 

The selections on display in Countway Library complement the NLM’s exhibit and are a small sampling of Center-held works created to engage users in ways that print alone cannot. Whether it’s Jacob Frölich’s 1544 Anathomia oder abconterfettung eynes Mans leib, wie er inwendig gestaltet ist, which helped medical students understand what the inside of a human body looks like using lift-up flaps, an 1802 anti-vaccination satire depicting cows plaguing the bodies of patients opting to be vaccinated with cowpox matter, or a 1995 comic book designed to help children understand their asthma, the Center’s collections contain both well known and obscure examples of graphic medicine. 

Collections include the Harvard Medical Library Satiric Prints Collection, the Robert Norton Ganz Collection, circa 1790-1830 (H MS c60), the Manfred Kraemer Collection of Medical Prints and Satires, the Harvard Medical Library’s collection of medical illustrations, 1910-1950 (bulk) (about 10,000 illustrations), the Warren Anatomical Museum collection of medical illustrations (around 2,000 items), hundreds of anatomical atlases, medical and dental supply catalogs illustrating the latest equipment (and how to use it), public health posters, educational handouts and patient literature, and pharmaceutical and product advertisements found in trade and popular magazines (such as Robert Latou Dickinson’s illustrations for Tampax Incorporated). We welcome your inquiries.

Graphic Medicine Examples

Graphic Medicine seeks not only to inform, but to share stories and new perspectives that the reader may have never considered. The medium offers a unique chance to disrupt traditional medical norms through storytelling and visual metaphors that force a change in perspective. As you explore the NLM Traveling Exhibit banners, we encourage you to consider these additional examples of how comics can explore the complexities of medicine and public health.