Spring 2026, Thursdays, 5-7 pm
1919 W. Taylor Street, Room 222
The course will be taught by MK Czerwiec, RN, MA
The goal of this course is to learn skills and best practices of the quickly growing field of graphic medicine. Formally organized circa 2010, this sub-discipline of the health humanities is defined as the intersection between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare. Becoming well-versed in the goals and methods of graphic medicine will equip BVIS students with dynamic, useful, and powerful tools to enhance their professional and personal artistic practice. This course will be divided into four modules, each corresponding to an a concrete, research-based, practical application of graphic medicine.
We will balance readings and discussion with creative drawing and comics-making assignments. We will also welcome practicing professionals of graphic medicine into our classroom and benefit from their expertise. The readings will be drawn from a wide variety of graphic memoirs and comics, and will be supplemented with materials from multimedia sources including biomedical literature, online video, podcasts, and the visual arts.
No prior knowledge or experience of graphic novels, comics, medicine, and/or illness are required. This online syllabus will be updated regularly during the course and serve as our dynamic workspace. Check back frequently for updates and assignments.
Syllabus: Our formal syllabus is here. PLEASE READ THROUGHLY for plan, policies, and procedures for this course.
Readings: The readings for this course will be provided, no books are required for purchase. To consult our full course book list, go here.
Supplies: This course will utilize basic drawing skills and focus primarily on analog techniques. Minimal supplies are required, such as pencils, a dark black pen, paper, ruler, and an eraser. Coloring supplies (crayons, colored pencils, markers) are welcome but not absolutely necessary. Students will need a Zoom-enabled computer and internet access.
Sharing your work: We will be utilizing a Padlet for sharing work. You can access that here.
When our course is on Zoom, please use this link.
Week 1, January 15: Introductions
this class will be on Zoom – link above
- To one another
- To this course
- To our class ground rules
- To the health humanities
- To graphic medicine
Preparation:
read the introduction to the Graphic Medicine Manifesto and peruse the Graphic Medicine Website.
Week 2, January 22: The Language of Comics
Preparation:
- Watch this video: Drawing vs. cartooning with Marek Bennet
- Watch this video: Inside a cartoonist’s world with Liza Donnelly
- click to enlarge images below.
Week 3, January 29: Research 1
Preparation:
- Read Chapter 7: Data, Science and Graphic Medicine in Making Nonfiction Comics
- Read Chapter 1: Research in Making Nonfiction Comics
- Check out Page 14: 10 Rookie Mistakes New Nonfiction Cartoonists Make
Further resources:
- Research Methods in Health Humanities, ed. by Craig Klugman and Erin Gentry Lamb, Oxford University Press, 2019, Chapter 5: Comics by Muna Al-Jawad and MK Czerwiec
- Also (late add) check out this article: Comics-based research: The Affordances of Comics for Research Across Disciplines.
- Comics Are Research: Graphic Narratives as a New Way of Seeing Clinical Practice, Muna Al-Jawad, J Med Hum, 2015
- “Why Academic Conference Posters Suck.”
- Here’s a study from the Journal of Internet Medical Research that discusses the impact of visual abstracts on research dissemination.
- Check out the work of Kay Sohini, especially her data visualization gallery
- Check out the work of Matteo Farinella and his 2018 article, The Potential of Comics in Science Communication
- “Research comics as translation: knowledge transfer and new audiences“
- The Comic Book as Research Tool, Ch. 10 Alternative Shapes of Knowledge
- Art Based Research from Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research : Perspectives, Methodologies, Examples, and Issues
- Late add:Comics in Science and HealthCommunication: Insights From MutualCollaboration and Framing a Research Practice
After class resources:
Week 4, February 5: Research 2
Non-required but helpful reading; “Humanising Data through ‘Data Comics’: An Introduction to Graphic Medicine and Graphic Social Science” by Aria Alamalhodaei, Alexandra Alberda & Anna Feigenbaum
For our in-class exercise:
Comics below are featured in Health Care Comics by Josh Neufeld, presented by the Journalist’s Resource
Group 1: from “Empathy 101” by Josh Neufeld
Group 2:
from “Vaccinated at the Ball” by Josh Neufeld
Group 3: from “A Tale of Two Pandemics” by Josh Neufeld
Week 5, February 12: Education 1
Preparation:
- Read Chapter 2 in Making Nonfiction Comics: Interviewing
- Interview your assigned BVIS student scientist and create a one-page comic about the interview, reflecting what you learned from your interview. Consider the tips given in the book chapter as you create your comic.
- Check out this interesting post.
Further resources:
Graphic Public Health, Chapter 5, “Making Comics For Public Health and Information”
Class followup:
Week 6, February 19: Education 2
Preparation:
- You will be presenting your interview comics.
- From this grouping of COVID educational comics, some of which I showed portions of in class, choose one and come prepared to critique it based on our discussion in class last week. Please note that each image links to the larger comic.
- Read this comic about using comics with adults in health care: “Are Comic Books Appropriate Health Education Formats to Offer Older Adult Patients?”
Class follow up:
The Four Panel Emergency Comic
(click image below for full size)
Week 7, February 26: Hybrid Forms: Memoir & Research Comics
Special in-class guest Dr. Elizabeth Trembley, creator of Look Again
Class followup:
- read How to Make Graphic Memoir #1: Start Yours Now
- read How to Make Graphic Memoir #2: The Many. Faces of You
- Dr. Trembley’s Four Unique Aspects of Memoir:
- Dual presence of the author (You Now = essayist. You then = storyteller)
- Reflection and meaning-making (without this it is an anecdote.)
- Control of time – to cue the reader which you is speaking. Only now you can make meaning.
- Tone of voice – relaxed and conversational is welcoming
Week 8, March 5: Education 3
Best practices of educational comics with guest speaker Gary Ashwal.
NOTE: This class will be held on Zoom.
Preparation:
Class follow-up:
A tool for informed consent decision making
A tool for helping families make treatment option decisions
Two Comic templates for theory-informed health education comics:
(click images below for PDF files)
More follow-up from Gary, the stages of educational comic creation. The exercises above are part of steps one & two.
Week 9, March 12: Advocacy & Care : The Basics
Preparation – read at least three of the following comics:
- Black Mothers Face Far Worse Health Outcomes How Do We Fix It? by Whit Taylor
- African-Americans are More Likely to Distrust the Medical System, Blame the Tuskegee Experiment by Whit Taylor
- Medicine’s Women Problem by Aubrey Hirsch
- Medical Gaslighting by Janice Goldberg
- Mis(s)diagnosis: Medicine’s Women Problem ADHD Edition by Leah Balsan
- The Dark Story of Hysteria by Alexandra Beguez
- A Patient Called Sam: Communicating with Patients Who Have Nonbinary Gender Identities by Khorizon Dunn
- Advocating for Yourself in a Medical Appointment by C.A. Rohr
- I Made the Most Banned Book in America by Maia Kobabe
- (late add) Menopause: A Comic Treatment, introduction, MK Czerwiec
And all of the following:
- How Drawing and Mindfulness Support Mental Health featuring Bill Doan
- Read the comic below by clicking on this image:
Class Followup:
- Our shared UIC/U of T interview comics Padlet – please upload your comics ASAP.
- Final project details
Week 10, March 19: Advocacy 2: Bioethics
Preparation:
- Ethical Issues and Issues of Ethics, from Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research : Perspectives, Methodologies, Examples, and Issues, edited by J. Gary Knowles, and Ardra L. Cole, 2007.
- Where All Bodies Are Exquisite, Riva Lehrer
- Landscapes of Health with Matteo & Rocío
- What is Universal Digital Design?
- Comics Beyond Sight
More on comics & bioethics, not required reading:
- Medical Comics as Tools to Aid in Obtaining Informed Consent for Stroke Care
- C-L Psychiatrist: Decisional Capacity: Autonomy vs. Beneficence – interview with creator
- How Should We Judge the Ethics of Illustrations in Graphic Medicine Novels?
- Feasibility and Acceptability of a Novel Intensive Care Unit Communication Intervention: (“Let’s Talk”)
- True Stories from An ICU: Was It Right To Keep Her Alive?
Week 11, April 2: Advocacy 3: Taking Turns
Preparation: Read Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371
ALSO:
- Read this new intro excerpt in comic form.
- And this post: “Taking Turns, The Audio”
Week 12, April 9: Special topic: Body Maps
This class will be on Zoom – link above.
Preparation:
- Read this book chapter, “Body Maps”
- Check out this interesting article about using body maps as research
- Body Map session slides are here.
Week 13, April 16: Special topic: Focus on Zines
Preparation: final project proposal due to me.
Readings below are NOT required but for your curiosity only.
Week 14, April 23: Special topic: Comics, Humor & Bringing it all Together
Preparation:
read Kid Gloves (will be distributed in class)
On humor and comics in Health Communication
Week 15, April 30: Presentations
Final comics due, to be presented and discussed in class.
For future reference: Applied Comics Collaborations: Ways for humanities and social science Researchers to work together with comic creators. 