psychiatrist & artist
The graphic novel explores what cultural & historical factors have influenced women's bodies through several case studies of societies from different cultures & time periods from around the world.
The novel uses historical & contemporary sources such as paintings, photographs, and body satisfaction surveys, and it also explores my own experience with body image & how my mom played a large part in the relationship with my own body.
I hope to use my graphic novel as an health education & communication intervention for those struggling with body image. I am currently working with faculty at the University of Toledo College of Medicine to create "Body Image Workshops" for teenagers in Toledo.
I have presented my graphic novel at the History of Medicine Student Symposium at the University of Toledo (2019), the 9th Annual Medical Humanities Conference at Western Michigan University (2019), the British Society of Aesthetics Conference: Art, Aesthetics, and the Medical and Health Humanities at University of Kent, UK (2020), and the 9th International Health Humanities Conference at St. Luke’s International University, Japan (2020).
My end goal with this graphic novel is to publish it in its entirety either online, in print, or both. If you have any suggestions or ideas for me, please contact me! I also welcome any collaboration on similar topics.
The Body Issue is a graphic novel I wrote & illustrated for my senior thesis when I was at Yale University. I was a major in the History of Science, Medicine, & Public Health and could not think of something I could write 50 pages of a dissertation on. That's when I had the crazy idea to ask my thesis advisor if I could draw my thesis instead of writing it. The idea was met with excitement, and a year later, I finished my first ever graphic novel! I didn't realize this project would be my first foray into Graphic Medicine–I didn't even discover the field until a year later, in medical school–but working on this project definitely peaked my interest in merging art & medicine and made me think about the possibility of doing it in my future career. The Body Issue won the 2018 Martin Klein and George Rosen Prize at Yale, given to the senior who has written the most outstanding senior essay in history of science and/or medicine.
