A large pencil stuck through a skull in the same way the pole went through Phineas Gage's head: entering under the left eye and exiting through the top of the skull.

New England Graphic Medicine Summit Returns

Thank you to everyone who attended NEGM25! Please stay tuned for future announcements about NEGM26.

We were pleased to announce the return of the New England Graphic Medicine (NEGM) Summit on October 24, 2025, featuring a half-day incubator designed to foster community and collaboration at the intersection of healthcare and comics across New England. Since the conference’s original launch in 2019 as “the New England Graphic Medicine Comic-Con,” the field of Graphic Medicine has grown considerably in Boston and the region.

NEGM25—hosted on Boston's Longwood Avenue, a world-renowned hub for hospitals, medical research centers, and academic institutions (including our hosts, MCPHS University and Harvard Medical School's Countway Library)—consisted of presentations, panels, and workshops, both in-person and virtually, to connect, illuminate, and expand the area’s Graphic Medicine community. An additional aim was to galvanize interest and coordinate organizers for a potential larger regional conference in 2026. Proposals were sought from those living in New England or focusing on the region, comparing their region to New England, or creating material on/for specifically New England, including, but not limited to, scholarly, creative, clinical, and pedagogical by readers, creators, students, educators, scholars, retailers, librarians, clinicians, and healthcare policy makers. For more information about the event, check out this Fanbase Press interview with planning committee members Caroline Hu and Briana L. Martino! The original NEGM Summit flyer lives here (PDF).

NEGM25 Summit Programming

Friday, October 24, 2025

  • 9:00 am: Doors open at Richard E. Griffin Academic Center (670 Huntington Ave., Boston)
  • 9:30 am: Welcome from co-organizers
  • 10:00 am:
    • Panel A: Tom Hart & Suzy Becker, Sequential Artists Workshop - "Rituals of Graphic Medicine”; Caroline Hu, MassArt (Moderator)
    • Panel B: LB Lee - “Quick’n’Dirty Plural Artistic History”; Meredith Kustina, Cambridge Health Alliance - “Mornings Are Rough: A Book for Children with Autism”; Sylvia Lardeaux - “A Body Out of Order: Living through Long COVID before It Existed"; Michael Anthony - “Ink, Appetite, and Identity: A Graphic Talk on Meat, Health, and Change”; Lisa Daria Kennedy, MassArt (Moderator)
  • 11:15 am:
    • Panel C: Publishers panel, featuring Zach Clemente; Street Noise Books; Alexandra Gallant-Lee; Joel Christian Gill, Boston University (Moderator)
    • Panel D: Nealie Ngo, Cambridge Health Alliance - "Creating Comics About Psychotropic Medications for Kids” (lightning talk); Scarlett Shiloh, Boston University - "Communicating Previvorship in Zines and Graphic Memoirs”; Briana Martino & Ellen Grabiner, Simmons University - “Keywords/Keyimages in Graphic Medicine: Picturing”; Annika Mengwall, Yale University - "Artistry & Accuracy: Striking a Balance in Health Education Materials”; Tavon Mei & Iris Ren, BU Graphic Medicine Club - “From Cocoa and Comics to MMM: Empowering Undergrads and Youth Medical Literacy" (lightning talk); Ellen Amster, McMaster University - "20,000 Leagues Under the Hospital: Using Comics to Explore Race and Colonialism for Medical Education and Clinical Practice" (lightning talk); A. David Lewis, MCPHS (Moderator)
  • 12:45 pm: Closing remarks
  • 1:15 pm: Discussion of NEGM 2026 Event at Countway Library (695 Huntington Ave., Boston)
  • Throughout the event: Exhibiting artists - Penelope McDonald & Lafleche Giasson

Unfortunately, due to illness, our afternoon workshops have been cancelled. We plan to host these workshops again at another time. Please stay tuned for more information! 

Graphic Medicine in Three Panels or LessAll skill levels welcome at Graphic Medicine in Three Panels or Less on the fifth floor of Countway Library.

This guided drawing workshop invited attendees to compose short comics steeped in personal experience and observation. Emphasis was placed on the impact of symbolic imagery versus literal meaning and visual realism; drawing experience not required! Practitioners of all disciplines were welcome.

Jess Ruliffson is an Eisner-nominated cartoonist. Her graphic medicine series, True Stories from an ICU, co-authored with Ernesto Barbieri, RN, was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Illustrated Reporting and Commentary in 2025. Her debut graphic novel, Invisible Wounds, was published by Fantagraphics Books in 2022. She teaches creative writing and graphic literature workshops at Boston University and narrative studio practices at The Sequential Artists Workshop online.

Photo courtesy of Boston University.

The Cartooning ClinicJoin our comics clinicians for a live creative check up & conversation on the fifth floor of Countway Library. Open to all NEGM attendees! MK Czerwiec will join virtually.

Crafting a long-form comic can be a complex and fraught process. The Cartooning Clinic offers creators a supportive “check up” on their projects, providing perspective and feedback from comics educators and practitioners brought together by The Center for Cartoon Studies’ Applied Cartooning Lab.

This session would spotlight How to Lose Your Mind, Eric Glickman's in-progress graphic medicine project, which documents another person’s experience while exploring the larger possibilities of graphic journalism. We would also briefly consider a second project, raising broader questions about voice, process, and how mental health narratives—whether explicit or implicit—fit within the field of graphic medicine. Open conversation with the featured cartoonist and audience would make this a lively, collaborative session.

Attending Clinicians

MK Czerwiec is a nurse, educator, and cartoonist, and a co-founder of the Graphic Medicine movement.
Natalie Norris is a cartoonist and author of Dear Mini: A Graphic Memoir, whose work explores themes of trauma, healing, and personal narrative.
James Sturm is a cartoonist and co-founder of The Center for Cartoon Studies.

Values Statement

As it is vital for the event's programming and goals to align with its principles and ethics, the following values will be observed for all aspects of its planning and execution:

Whom is NEGM for...

Readers, creators, students, educators, scholars, retailers, librarians, clinicians, healthcare workers, policy-makers...—either living in New England, focusing on New England, comparing their region to New England, or creating material on/for specifically New England.

What NEGM Prioritizes....

In accord with the stated mission of the Graphic Medicine International Collective (GMC): "We value kindness, compassion, and inclusivity. We welcome curiosity, creativity, and ingenuity. We foster community, connection, and collaboration. We commit to transparency, honesty, and accountability to ourselves and to our community."

NEGM would like to highlight the following three principles, explicitly:

  1. We advocate for access and inclusion across all identities and abilities, as well as safety and health for all people.

  2. While we welcome discussion/organizing in regards to generative AI, we currently cannot accept submissions, written or illustrated, which make use of it. As this technology matures and the societal landscape around it and its ethical use develop further, we can return to review this principle. As such NEGM also pledges to limit any use of these tools in its own work.

  3. We value evidence-based medical practices and scientific inquiry, and we seek to combat misinformation and disinformation.

Organizers

The 2025 New England Graphic Medicine Summit was a collaboratively organized event brought to you by:

  • A David Lewis (MCPHS University)
  • Briana Martino (Simmons University)
  • Caroline Hu (Massachusetts College of Art and Design)
  • Lisa Kennedy (Massachusetts College of Art and Design)
  • Sarah Levin-Lederer (Network of the National Library of Medicine, Region 7)
  • Matthew Noe (Harvard Medical School)
  • Yasmina Kamal (Harvard Medical School)

Connect with Us

Follow #NEGM25 on social media:

Please email all questions to NEGM, thank you.