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Article: Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine, UK
| Written by Catherine Twomey for the UK's Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine The 62nd Annual Conference of the Association of Medical Illustrators, Bozeman, MT • July 18 – 21, 2007 ©2007 Catherine Twomey, CMI A
midsummer drought and unusually high temperatures were not enough to keep
over 220 members, students and sponsors from the 62nd Annual Conference
of the Association of Medical Illustrators (AMI), held in Bozeman, Montana.
Mountains sparkled through the heat as attendees gathered on the beautiful
Montana State University campus. Hands-on workshops, award banquets, a
Salon of exquisite biomedical art and a choice of over 25 presentations
offered something for every attendee. Three plenary sessions held on the program’s first day were equally diverse. Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America’s First National Park, presented by Peter Hassrick, MA of the Institute of Western American Art at the Denver Art Museum, was a fascinating historical description of the battle between visionary landscape painters Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt. Richard Fiscella, RPh, MPH, a Clinical Professor at the University of Illinois, distributed 3D glasses to the audience for the discussion of his team’s work, Virtually™ – Virtual Eye. This simulation, winner of the 2007 Vesalius Trust for Visual Communication in the Health Sciences’ Frank Netter Award, demonstrated how 3D computer modeling and virtual reality technology were used to create an affordable, portable VR application. Both normal anatomy and ocular disease states, including impaired vision simulations, were shown. The Topics in Interventional Cardiology session was presented by John Carroll, M.D., and Adam Hangsen with the University of Colorado. It revealed how simulation technology can be used to transform, via a 3D printer, cardiac CT imaging segments into an accurate, potentially life-saving, 3D physical model of a patient’s heart for surgical practice and reference. Sessions covering a variety of business topics were offered, including Medical Legal Business Practices to Protect and Add Value to Your Work, The ABCs of Licensing Medical Illustration, Getting Organized with FileMaker Pro Software, and an overview of the bookkeeping software QuickBooks Pro. Steven Heller and Marshall Arisman, authors of Inside the Business of Illustration were broadcast live from New York City to lead an interactive discussion with participants concerning the state of the illustration profession. A particularly notable plenary session, Inner Life of a Cell by David Bolinsky, head of the digital animation company, XVIVO, and Robert Lue, Ph.D., with Harvard University, drew a standing ovation from the audience for their work. XVIVO created an 8.5 minute, 3D animated film for Harvard’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, accurately depicting the tumultuous, stunning and incredibly busy world inside a cell. From a debut at SIGGRAPH, to an ABC news feature and calls from Hollywood’s Warner Studios, the animation has reached an international audience and set the stage for refreshing and better ways to learn science. As stated by Dr. Lue, “Science is a fire hose” and scientific communicators are being flooded with new information in need of visualization. An equally intriguing talk, Dr. Charles Falco’s plenary session, The Science of Optics, The History of Art, belied its disarmingly innocuous title and offered surprising revelations. Influential British artist David Hockney observed that certain paintings from as early as the Renaissance resembled photographs in their detail. Many art historians insisted there was no supporting evidence for such a remarkable assertion. Dr. Falco and Hockney investigated western art of the past 1000 years, and came to the extraordinary conclusion that artists of prominence, including van Eyck and Bellini, must have used optical aids.
A gathering of artists, medical or otherwise, almost inevitably brings controversy, and for this the 62 Annual meeting did not disappoint. Betsy Palay, MS, CMI, FAMI was the articulate moderator for the panel discussion, Medical Illustration 2.0: The Next Generation, a follow-up to a panel discussion of industry veterans during the 2006 meeting. Ms. Palay adroitly directed the younger member panel to elaborate their perspectives on new technologies, the threat of foreign competition, the place of biomedical communicators in the world, and intellectual property issues. Insightful and lively opinions were offered at the Medical Illustration 2.0 Forum. Some predicted a diminishing role in the marketplace for the medical illustrator acting as a sole proprietor. Others foresaw an increasing demand for medical illustrators to have training in core molecular science courses such as organic chemistry. It wouldn’t be a memorable conference without awards. A Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Martin Finch, CMI who was a pioneer in adopting and promoting computer technology in his position at the University of Minnesota. Bill Stenstrom, who served on the Council for Education for two decades, taught medical illustration for 50 years and for 16 years was Chair of the Medical College of Georgia program, garnered the Brodel Award in Education. The annual AMI Salon of artwork, entered in 12 professional and 8 student categories, was a visual pleasure and one of the meeting highlights. Hundreds of entries vied for 27 awards. The Will Sheppard Award of Excellence was awarded to Andy Rekito (Dural Arteriovenous Fistula of the Anterior Condylar Confluent and Hypoglossal Canal Mimicking a Jugular Foramen Tumor) and Dave C. Killpack (Common Disorders of the Canine Ear) for Instructional Color. Lewis Calver (Tension-Free Vaginal Tape [Gynecare TVT]) and Jennifer E. Fairman (Biliopancreatic Diversion with Lateral Gastrectomy and Duodenal Switch) were given the Max Brodel Award of Excellence for Instructional Tone. Lewis Calver also received the Member’s Choice Award for Tension-Free Vaginal Tape (Gynecare TVT).
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