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In this issue
In Memoriam: Remembering Steve Gilbert by Dave Mazierski (8T2)
Interview with Diana Kryski (0T8)
Grant's Atlas Exhibition by Dave Mazierski (8T2)
Student Master's Research Projects 1T4
BMCAA Forum Release! by Stuart Jantzen (1T3)
BMCAAnewsletter
President's Message
vol 28 no.1 / Spring 2014 issue
Dear Alumni,
Table of Contents
We are thrilled to release a new issue of the
BMCAA newsletter. It may have taken a little
longer than usual, but our brand new editors
Olivia Yonsoo Shim (1T3) and Bonnie Tang (1T2)
have been busy giving our good ol’ newsletter
some TLC and a complete makeover. One
of our favourite new additions is the set of
wayfinding cells designed by Olivia to label
the different sections of the publication. We’re
sure you’ll find them utterly loveable.
Presidents’ Message / 2
BMCAA Uncon 2013 / 3
BMCAA Winter Gala 2014 / 4
Interview with Diana Kryski (0T8) on Starting a Small Business / 5-6
Illustrating Medicine: Exhibiting the Art of Grant’s Atlas by Dave Mazierski (8T2) / 7
Vesalius Trust Awards / 8
Stephen Goltra Gilbert (Part 1) by Dino Pulerà (9T6) / 9-10
In Memoriam: Remembering Steve Gilbert by Dave Mazierski (8T2) / 11-12
BMC Student MRPs A Sneak Peek at the Projects from the Class of 1T4 / 13-16
Announcements / 17-18
BMCAA Forum Release! by Stuart Jantzen (1T3) / 19
Housekeeping / 20
2014 BMCAA Executive Committee Members
Co-PresidentsAndreea Margineanu (1T2) / Merry Wang (1T2)
Secretary: Minyan Wang (1T2)
Treasurer: Andrea Gauthier (1T2)
Fundraising Coordinator: Natalia Burachynsky (1T2)
Newsletter Editor: Bonnie Tang (1T2) / Olivia Yonsoo Shim (1T3)
Web Development: Michael Corrin (0T6)
BMC Student Representatives: Andrew Q Tran (1T4) / Erin Kenzie (1T4)
Photo by Troy Rennie
Cover Art
Octopus (2014)
by Olivia Yonsoo Shim (1T3)
watercolour pencils
1
In the past 6 months we have gathered for some
ambitious events organized by the BMCAA
and the current students of BMC. We’ve
also mourned the loss of two trailblazers of
our profession; Nancy Joy and Steve Gilbert
have been celebrated at gatherings, through
fundraising, and right here in this issue
of the BMCAA newsletter. Dave Mazierski
(8T2)’s bittersweet account of Steve Gilbert’s
influence on his professional and personal
life is punctuated by some comic relief in the
form of a delightful vintage throwback photo
of some of your favourite professors in their
prime!
Dundas Data Visualization for their generous
sponsorship of the Gala.
Have you wondered what it takes to be a
fearless entrepreneur? Read all about Diana
Kryski (0T8)’s solo success, and while you’re at
it, sharpen those business best practice skills
by checking out Stuart Jantzen (1T3)’s shiny
new forum for all things BMC alumni related!
A big congratulations to all the fabulous
Vesalius Trust Award winners, and go on, read
about the wonderful MRPs current students
(class of 1T4) are losing sleep and muscle
mass over.
We would like to thank everyone that has
sent us submissions, ideas, letters, and
announcements. We love to see BMC alumni
connected and engaged!
Until next time,
Adie & Merry
The UnCon was a huge success, and we tried
to branch out a bit this time around and invite
some speakers outside the realm of BMC. In
the winter, we all shed some holiday pounds
stressing over the Winter Gala and how we’d
pull it off! Luckily, we ended up 5 pounds
thinner, and the BMC program a couple
thousand bucks richer! We were thrilled
with the success of our silent auction and
sponsorship fundraising success, and we will
continue to improve on these practices in the
future. Thanks again to Imagineering and
what is this?
BMCAA Newsletter character
E
2
BMCAA Winter Gala
BMCAA Uncon 2013
The BMCAA Annual Uncon has always been a
great avenue for current students and alumni
to share ideas, technology, and experiences
with one another. This year drew a diverse
range of presenters, including guest speakers from outside of the BMC community.
Silent Auction
This year attendees anxiously placed
their bids on one-of-a-kind artwork,
sculptures and leather goods from
donated by BMC alumni. Total funds
raised comes to $1030. Thank you for
A special thank you to our presenters for their time and efforts!
Adie Margineanu (IT2)
"Creating an animated infographic"
Radha Chaddah
"Making art about science"
Stuart Jantzen (IT3)
"A proposal for a BMC online community"
Dave Mazierski (8T2)
"Diamondbacks and dinosaurs: Paleontological fieldwork in the Alberta Badlands"
Andrea Gauthier (IT2)
"BMC to PhD: What options are there?"
3
Tabetha Rose (IT1)
"Starling & Feathers: Tools for a mobilefriendly UI in Flash"
Brendan Polley (IT4)
"Building interactivity into medical imaging
software with 3D Slicer"
Minyan Wang (IT2) & Bonnie Scott (IT2)
"BMCing at Bridgeable"
Alex Rice-Koury
"3D printing for beginners"
Photos by Minyan Wang (1T2)
Past and present
BMC students and alumni
mingle and enjoying the
night.
50/50 Draw
To end the night, Jason Sharpe (0T3), the big
winner of the draw graciously donates his
winnings to the Nancy Joy Fund.
Photos by Minyan Wang (1T2)
4
Interview
with Diana Kryski (0T8) on Starting a Small Business
by Bonnie Tang (1T2) and Olivia Yonsoo Shim (1T3)
Hi Diana, I want to thank you for taking the time
with us for an interview.
Diana: Thanks for inviting me!
I see so many amazing pieces in your portfolio.
Which one of your projects are you the most proud
of? Which one was the most challenging and why?
Diana: Thank you! The year after I graduated from
BMC, I had the good fortune to work with a leading
doctor at St. Michael’s Hospital to illustrate his
book, "An Introductory Curriculum for UltrasoundGuided Regional Anesthesia". Aside from the book
reaching 35 countries in the first year, I think the
fact that it was so early in my medical illustration
career, and the clients’ commitment to creating
both an excellent resource and a beautiful work,
made this project one I’ll always cherish. My
most challenging and rewarding project has been
a series of six whiteboard animations for one of
Canada’s leading hospital programs. The project
was very large and I’ve designed creative ways of
maintaining my energy and focus while working
full-time on a single project over a longer period.
I always find it interesting to learn how different
people get in “the zone” when they work. Do you
have a special routine that gets you in the zone?
Diana: As an entrepreneur, personal motivation
to get down to work is incredibly important—and
sometimes elusive. I have a handful of tricks I use
to get myself in the zone. Sometimes it’s music.
Sometimes it’s taking a quick moment to think about
the financial reward, or, even better, visualizing
future success. But without fail, my support system
always consists of a hot cup of coffee I can reach
for while working. Just the thought of my coffee
makes me ready to work. Dark chocolate when I’m
particularly unenthused.
Aside from edible rewards, if there is a problematic
project on the go, I find that solving its visual
problems away from my desk makes me much
more willing (excited even) to get to work.
I feel that marketing your business and finding
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clients are a huge part of maintaining a small
business in our industry. Do you have any advice
for those who are just starting out?
Diana: A few important things come to mind.
1. Get a professional-looking website and put your
best work on it. If you’re not sure which of your pieces
are truly impressive, ask an experienced medical
illustrator for their help in selecting pieces. Make
sure your website is SEO-friendly. 2. Be accessible
and available to your clients or potential clients.
Ask happy clients for referrals. 3. Do quality work;
check reference material (both for science and for
draftsmanship) on anything you’re the least bit
unsure of. 4. Figure out what motivates you and use it
to leverage yourself to create the career and life you
want. 5. Avoid repetitive strain injuries! Make sure
you have an ergonomic workstation, sustainable
working posture, and healthy muscles—strength
training and metabolic rate training can not only
help you feel great but keep you from avoiding
injuries from illustration work.
What do you find most challenging about founding
a small business?
Diana: There is a lot of learning involved, especially
for someone without a business or corporate
background. At first the entrepreneur wears every
hat imaginable and so must figure out how to do a
lot of things he or she isn’t trained in. Accounting,
negotiating, marketing, customer service, sales,
project management, etc. This is probably also
the aspect I love most about small business! I am
continually learning, recognizing my weaknesses
and blind spots and growing as a person.
Was there a role model or a mentor in your life
who has influenced your decision to start your
own business?
Diana: Since graduating from BMC, I always
knew I would eventually want to have my own
illustration company, and Stephen Mader,
President of Artery Studios, was definitely my role
model in this. I worked at Artery for almost four
years and during that time I learned immensely
from Stephen’s professionalism, commitment to
quality, and leadership. The latest influence has
been my husband, Julian Bolster. Julian is an
exquisitely talented executive/ life coach with much
experience in small business. Julian’s powerful
entrepreneurial spirit, his encouragement have
most definitely played a role in the formation and
evolution of Kryski Biomedia today.
I noticed that whiteboard videos are listed as one
of the services you provide. How do you come
up with these product ideas? There are a lot of
companies out there who specifically provide
whiteboard animations – how do you compete
with those companies?
Diana: For me, new product ideas (and even new
business ideas) come out of the combination of
necessity and creativity. I never want to say to a
client, “No, we can’t do that…” I’m always trying to
come up with ways to answer that need.
The idea for producing a whiteboard video came
out of discussion with a client who was looking for
an affordable, graphic-type video advertisement
for their fitness product. The first whiteboard video
I was involved in was produced by my client; we
used their cameraman/editor, their studio. I was
involved in the conceptualization and set-up and I
did the storyboarding and the drawing on camera.
Later, another client came along who wanted a
whiteboard video and so I came up with my own
version of how to create them. After a period of
experimentation we designed a far more effective
and higher quality method of producing whiteboard
animations at a fraction of the cost and time of
our competition. We now have a full whiteboard
animation “studio” in our new offices that is getting
a lot of use. I was fortunate to have gotten the initial
experience in this unique medium, and then I saw
there was a need for it and that I could answer it.
medical illustrators are at least one of these!); and
to me this means there are no limits to what I might
do, deliver and achieve. We work with surgeons and
fitness personalities, advertising firms and lawyers.
Why would I want to put a boundary around what I
can offer them? Our industry is full of people who
can offer this kind of creativity, in new media that
arise, to new audiences and new markets that
develop. I’m okay with our industry having fuzzy
edges.
As a founder and principal, what sorts of trends
do you see for our industry?
Diana: During my career, I’ve taken notice of
the troubling trend around undervaluing visual
products. This undervaluing is done both by
clients and by illustrators, especially those less
experienced. We’ve seen a trend of images losing
their value to people as the illegal appropriation
(on the web), threats to copyright protection like
the Orphan Works Act, and basically free licensing
of images (like the recent Getty Images move),
all become more and more ubiquitous, and as
visual products become more available cheaply
from overseas. I’m trying to advocate for the best
copyright practices and laws in our industry, and
to really educate our clients in this marketplace as
to the value of quality work by qualified illustrators
as a way of protecting and ensuring the availability
of high-quality illustrators and visual products. If
we underprice our work and continue to allow its
undervaluing by society, we will erode our talent
pool of skilled artists and drive good talent away to
other industries. This is the kind of advocacy that
is needed by all business leaders in our small and
important industry.
What's your personal philosophy on what our
industry’s services should be?
Diana: I don’t think our industry’s services should be
limited to any one defined list. We are all individuals
with different strengths and areas of interest. I’m
a medical illustrator; to me this means I make
visuals to communicate science and medicine. But
I’m also an artist, and I’m an entrepreneur (most
Photo and Image by Diana Kryski (0T8)
6
Illustrating Medicine
Exhibiting the Art of Grant's Atlas
Vesalius Trust Awards
This Year's List of Winners from BMC
by Dave Mazierski (8T2)
The Vesalius Trust originates in 1988, founded
under the direction of the Board of Governors
of the Association of Medical Illustrators.
Throughout the years it has maintained its
vision of developing and supporting education
and research programs in the field of health
science communications.
The Vesalius Trust awards scholarships to
students studying in the five accrediated
programs
across North America, recognizing
1
outstanding student research in the areas
of medical illustration and biomedical
communication. This year, the BMC students
at UofT has claimed 6 of the prestigious 15
awards. Congratulations to our winners and
applicants for all their hard work!
1
1. Dave Mazierski gives an
impromptu carbon dust
demonstration
2
3
2. Shelley Wall basks in
the show in a fresh way
3
4. Nancy Marrelli, Margot
Mackay, Kim Sawchuk (left
to right)
Concordia University faculty Kim Sawchuk (Department of
Communications) and Nancy Marrelli (Archivist Emerita)
have organized an exhibit of original drawings by Nancy
Joy, Dorothy Foster-Chubb, Elizabeth Blackstock and
Marguerite Drummond called “Illustrating Medicine”
as part of an ongoing research project (with participants
Nick Woolridge, Nina Czegledy, Brian Sutherland, Mél
Hogan, Margot Mackay and Dave Mazierski) to catalogue
and protect this important collection of Canadian
7
Brendan Polley was named Vesalian Scholar
for his work in "Utilizing a 3D gesture-based
natural user interface for undergraduate
anatomy education".
Karyn Ho was named Vesalian Scholar for
her project “Invisible Messengers: Targeting
Delivery of Anti-Cancer Drugs".
Andrew Tran was named Vesalian Scholar for
his project " Beyond the diffraction barrier: An
exploration of 3D visualization and interactive
media
to
describe
super-resolution
microscopy as applied to neurobiology"
Vesalius Trust Grant Award
3. Margot Mackay examines Grant’s Atlas artwork
on display at Concordia
University
It is easy to become desensitized to the visually arresting
quality of the medical and anatomical images that are
part of our profession, which we see day in and day out.
Sometimes, it takes a pair of fresh eyes from outside
our discipline to remind us of the beauty and historical
significance of some of our greatest treasures. Such is
the case with the original Grant’s Atlas artwork, currently
housed in the Biomedical Communications archives at
the University of Toronto Mississauga campus.
Vesalian Scholar Award
Joshua Lai for "PolyBrain: Interactive learning
of volumetric and sectional neuroanatomy".
Megan Kirkland for her webcomic depecting
"The Sexual Development of Adolescents with
Spina Bifida"
4
medical illustrations. The exhibit opened on March
14th at The Media Gallery, CJ Building on Concordia
University’s Loyola campus (7141 Sherbrooke S. West,
Montreal). Kim’s husband Robert Prenovault devised
and built a unique set of ‘floating’ display cases and
mounts that protect the art while at the same time
allowing the viewer to see the history of each illustration
as interpreted through the marginalia and printer’s
marks on the periphery of the art. Kim and Nancy hope
that there may be opportunities for the exhibit to travel
to other cities; stay tuned for updates in the months to
come. In the meantime, those of you in the Montreal
area (or who might be planning a trip there) can see the
exhibit at Concordia until May 1st.
Andrew Tubelli for “Visualization of Spatial
and Temporal Scaling in a Molecular
Environment Using Three-Dimensional
Animation Techniques"
- Bonnie Tang (1T2)
To read more on their research, please
refer to "BMC Student MRPs" (pg 13-16) in
the newsletter.
The show’s website is here:
http://www.illustratingmedicine.mobilities.ca
Photos by Shelley Wall
Photo: courtesy of Dave Mazierski (8T2), Illustration by Olivia Yonsoo Shim (1T3)
8
Stephen Goltra Gilbert:
The Man, The Artist and The Teacher (Part 1)
by Dino Pulerà (9T6)
The medical illustration community suffered
a great loss this year as we said goodbye to
Stephen Gilbert. The following piece is an
extended version of an article written by Dino
Pulerà (9T6) for the GNSI journal during his last
year in the BMC program.
In 1992, I was struggling to complete a dissection
in my comparative vertebrate anatomy lab. My
only solace was being able to refer to a series
of amazing illustrations, so beautiful, accurate
and informative, that I fell in love with them.
At the time, I did not know that I was going to
have a career in biomedical illustration; I was
still searching for a career and had no idea who
their creator, Stephen G. Gilbert, was. When I
entered the Biomedical Communications (BMC)
program at the University of Toronto a year later,
I discovered that Steve Gilbert was going to be
one of my teachers. I remember meeting him for
the first time at my adjudication. He was (and still
is) a lean and muscular man standing well over
6 feet tall, with long gray hair and goatee, steely
blue eyes, a baritone voice and almost completely
covered in tattoos. He was causally dressed in blue
jeans, running shoes and a buttoned shirt with the
sleeves rolled up. I was intimidated by his physical
appearance as well as his incredible talent.
Over the next three years I attended many classes
taught by Gilbert, including sketching specimens
in the anatomy museum, pen and ink, carbon dust,
black watercolour wash and colour watercolour
techniques. His practical approach and laid-back
demeanour made learning inevitable which gave
me confidence as a fledging biomedical illustrator.
In my last year at BMC, I wrote a paper about this
scientific illustrator who I admired so much.
Stephen Goltra Gilbert, the only child of middle
9
class parents, was born in Portland, Oregon on
January 18, 1931. As a child, he showed signs of
interest in art and science, but his first love was
cartoons and comics.
He remembers his father reading him the Sunday
comics in bed every weekend. The young Gilbert
spent many hours drawing cartoons. To this end,
his father made a plywood easel and a drawing
board for him. The aspiring Gilbert was also a
member of the Young Oregonian’s Cartoon Club
(the Oregonian was a Portland newspaper). Gilbert
remembers getting an inflated ego every time
he saw his cartoons printed in the newspaper.
Although his parents never supported this interest,
they were tolerant and generous in allowing their
young son to do what pleased him:
When I was a kid I stayed home from school a lot. I
was very eccentric. I wouldn’t go to school and my
mother would indulge this. So I just stayed home
and drew pictures while all the other kids went to
school. I never thought about whether they were
useful or whether I could sell them or anything,
you know...it was just fun to do it.… I drew all the
time.
His love for comics extended to animated
cartoons. His favourite toy was a little crankoperated 16 mm film projector that he used to
watch Popeye, Betty Boop and Felix the Cat.
These moving images "cast a magical spell" over
him. A major source of inspiration for Gilbert
was the semi-annual visit by Ben Sharpsteen, a
family friend who worked for Walt Disney as an
animator and director. Sharpsteen would amaze
Gilbert with his effortless ability to draw Mickey
Mouse, Pluto and other Disney characters. He
would bring him gifts from the Disney Studios,
including animator’s sketches, pieces of film and
cells from Dumbo, Pinnochio, Fantasia and Snow
White (which remains Gilbert’s favourite movie). In
1942, he traveled to California where Sharpsteen
arranged a tour of Disney Studios for the 11-year
old boy. The highlight of his visit was a five minute
interview with Walt Disney himself!
A close second to his passion for cartoons and
animation was a profound fascination with animals
and the natural world. His parents indulged this
interest by allowing their son to keep a menagerie
of pets. He had a room full of animals that included
mice, rats, guinea pigs and goldfish. His father
even built an incubator so he could witness the
hatching of a chick. Gilbert combined his two
interests by visiting the local market and buying
fish and other animals in order to draw them.
Later in his career, he dedicated his book entitled
"Pictorial Human Embryology":
For my father, Who showed me where to find
frog’s eggs.
1944-1947 Boarding School
Gilbert lived in Portland until he turned 13, when
he was sent to a boarding school in New England
for three years. He attended the Putney School
in Putney, Vermont and the Phillips Academy in
Andover, Massachusetts. Apart from the evening
oil painting class offered by the school, Gilbert
found little to motivate him at boarding school.
nice clean clothes. I was a member of the radical
Bohemian-free-love doper group.
By the time he completed college, he became
cynical about art as a profession. Some of the
graduates from the art college were teaching art
in high school while others became commercial
artists. To Gilbert, these occupations were
"straight, dull and boring", and he did not want to
stay in
Portland pursuing such jobs
1952-1955 in the Army
Upon graduating from Reed College, Gilbert
enlisted in the military and joined the medical
corps for three years. He saw no combat while in
the army and never left the U.S.
During this time he did not produce any art. In his
last year in the army, Gilbert applied for admission
to two medical illustration schools: Ralph Sweet’s
school in San Francisco, and Mauriel McLatchie
Miller’s school in Boston.
During his last year at Reed, a friend who worked
at the University of Oregon Medical School library
showed Gilbert a book by medical illustrator Frank
Netter and said "You like morbid things; you ought
to do this." The illustrations fascinated Gilbert and
were a revelation to him:
1955-1958 Medical Illustration School
Before his tour of duty was complete, Gilbert
found out that he had been accepted to both
Sweet’s and Miller’s schools (he had not applied
to the Art as Applied to Medicine program at John
Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore because he
did not have the necessary prerequisite science
courses). In the end, he chose to attend Miller’s
school, primarily because it was a three year
program instead of Sweet’s two year program. As
soon as he was discharged from the army, Gilbert
entered the Medical Illustration school in Boston
at the Massachusetts General Hospital which is no
longer in existence. The school director was Muriel
McLatchie Miller, a Canadian and a former student
of Max Brödel. She was also a charter member of
the Association of Medical Illustrators, which was
founded in 1945 (Hill, 1965). Gilbert remembers
Miller as a "benevolent and good teacher".
(to be continued)
When I was at Reed art school I was very antiscience. I thought that the pre-m ed students
were real nerds. They all had short hair and wore
Part 2 of this article is to be continued in the
next issue of the BMC newsletter.
1947-1952 College Years
After boarding school, Gilbert attended Reed
College, a small liberal arts college that was his
mother’s alma mater. The College had a joint
program with the Portland Museum Art School.
He attended Reed for three years and the Museum
Art School for two years, earning his B.A. in Art.
10
In Memoriam:
Remembering Steve Gilbert
by Dave Mazierski (8T2)
with him as well. When the weather was cooperative, we would make time to head down to
Baldwin Street or Ema Tei on St. Andrew Street
for a Japanese lunch followed by a cigar from
the tobacco store on McCaul. We talked about
embryogenesis, Communism, tattoos, world
history, vegetarianism, and the triumphs and
tribulations of raising our children. Little by little,
I also learned about Steve’s pre-Toronto life: his
training at Massachusetts General Hospital under Muriel McLatchie Miller (a Brodel student),
and later with Ralph Sweet in San Francisco.
He might have stayed at the family farm on the
west coast, living off of the land and illustrating
comparative anatomy textbooks according to his
own schedule and passions, but when his son got
in trouble over his possession of some opiates
Cranial Nerves illustration by Steven Gilbert
from his grandfather’s old medical kit found in
the attic, he had to leave Oregon just as an offer to work in Toronto arrived from Nancy Joy.
“Nancy saved my life”, Steve would say, as his relocation gave him a fresh career start and
provided us with the opportunity to learn from him. A first impression of his deep voice, piercing gaze, seemingly serious demeanour and tattoos might have been unsettling, but as soon
as he began to explain how to start a wash drawing, or how to draw a cel animation, or how
to sharpen a pencil with a single edged razor blade, you felt at ease. He was gentle and supportive with his critiques, and best of all, he would offer to sit at your desk just to show you a
few things, while some of us secretly wished that he would complete the drawing for us and
make it as wonderful as his own original illustrations. His work possessed a freshness and
light touch that belied the care and knowledge of his craft and subject matter that went into
every stroke. Later in our relationship, I hoped that my assistance with his inevitable computer questions somehow compensated in part for all of the things he taught me.
The memories I have of Steve and all that he meant to
me are still with me every day, and while I know that
they will soften with the passage of time, they are now
a permanent part of me and the way I work and live.
Steve Gilbert with fellow BMC faculty members Nick Woolridge (9T2), Dave Mazierski (8T2), Linda Wilson-Pauwels (8T6), and
Margot Mackay (6T7) in 1996.
On the morning of February 21st, I received a phone call from Steve’s wife Cheralea with
the news that Steve had died the previous evening. Steve had been ill with the twin curses
of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, and over the past sixteen months his health had
declined rapidly, so while the news was not a complete surprise, the shock and sadness were
immediate.
Steve’s profound influence on so many of us, as a teacher and friend, has been made manifest by the numbers of alumni who came to his belated retirement party in 2010 (he never really did stop working), his memorial service on March 2nd, and in the many donations which
have been arriving at BMC towards the creation of a trust fund in his name. I knew Steve for
thirty five years… more that half my life!… and I can honestly say that I learned new things
from him every occasion we spent time together. I feel especially proud that I was his student
for three years, and then when I started to teach part-time at BMC, I got to share an office
11
Photo: courtesy of Dave Mazierski (8T2)
Thank you, Steve, one last time.
Donations in memory and honour of Prof. Steve
Gilbert can be made online to the BMC Program
Fund (please note "BMC-Gilbert")
http://bmc.med.utoronto.ca/bmc/alumni/giving/
Steve Gilbert at the AMI Conference (1998)
Photo: courtesy of Dave Mazierski (8T2)
12
BMC Student MRPs
A Sneak Peek at the Projects from the Class of 1T4
Every spring, the second years of BMC introduce us to mind-blowing displays of technology and innovation that will leave your jaws on the floor - and your BMC heartstrings swelling with pride.
Catherine Au-Yeung
Developing an Educational App for Dental Professionals
As a graduate student in the Biomedical Communication program at the University of Toronto,
I am interested in design and the development of educational tools and visualizations
within interactive media. In collaboration with a dental surgeon in Indiana, I am
working on developing an educational mobile application geared towards professionals
working in dentistry. There is a vast amount of information for professionals to
master and I am designing an app that can be used as a study aid to help learners
tackle the material. I am also hoping that the app will be able to help learners break
down information into organized modules and to provide a motivational experience.
Yi-Min Chun
Ex vivo Liver Perfusion
In the field of liver transplantation, the number of viable livers for transplantation
continues to be a problem. Currently, there are limited resources available demonstrating
the use of ex vivo perfusion in organ transplantation. Most of these resources consist of static
2D illustrations or documentary-style video footage with limited explanation of circuit
components and function. To date, there are no visuals that integrate 3D components of
the ex vivo circuit with infographics to help highlight important data to demonstrate the
complexity and success of this technique. As a result,the aim of my project is to create a
novel film that integrates 3D animation, infographic elements, and surgical footage to
address this need. In addition, this film will allow clinicians and researchers to present the
novel ex vivo liver perfusion platform and current research findings in an innovative way.
Nicole Clough
An Interactive Learning Module on Fetal Blood Supply and Circulation for First-Year
Medical Students
Fetal blood supply and circulation, with its many shunts and postnatal changes, can be
difficult to learn, especially in the context of a busy anatomy course such as Structure and
Function at the University of Toronto. There is little opportunity for exploration of fetal or
newborn anatomy or placenta, in contrast to the opportunities for cadaveric study of adult
human anatomy. Current visuals generally convey fetal blood supply and circulation through
schematic line drawings, and there is a lack of interactive and non-schematic resources.
This project aims to provide students with an interactive tool for learning about spatial
and temporal features of fetal circulation through the use of animated representations
of blood flow, as well as interactive 3D models of the heart, liver, and placenta.
Karyn Ho
Invisible Messengers: Targeting Delivery of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Nanoscale devices have biological properties that are not observed on molecular or
bulk scales, providing innovative features for medical applications. In particular, nanoparticle
systems can guide anti-cancer drugs to tumours based on size and molecular recognition.
Existing visual resources often depict elements of nanoparticle-based tumour targeting
poorly or incorrectly, including: (1) showing nanoparticles approaching a tumour from the
periphery instead of passing through hyperpermeable tumour blood vessel walls; and (2)
neglecting the potential for targeting metastases without prior knowledge of their location.
We are developing an educational 3D animation that will correct these errors andomissions,
and serve as an exemplar of visualization in the domain of nanoparticle drug delivery.
Megan Kirkland
The Sexual Development of Adolescents with Spina Bifida: A Webcomic
There is a documented shortage of sex education and developmental support resources for
adolescents with disabilities. The paucity of information is partly due to social stigmas but can
also be attributed to the difficulty of disseminating information to a large, diverse population.
The stigma can be harmful to their emotional development, since the evolution of a stable
sexual identity is a valuable part of the transition into independent adulthood. The goal of
my MRP is to create an engaging visual project which will discuss various aspects of sexual
development and will educate and empower teens with spina bifida. Comics have become
widely respected for their ability to portray sensitive medical topics with an approachable,
patient-oriented focus. A comic hosted on the Internet (webcomic) is the ideal method of
visual communication for this challenge, due to its ability to engage an adolescent audience
and disseminate uncomfortable health information in a humorous, non-threatening way.
Joshua Lai
PolyBrain: Interactive learning of volumetric and sectional neuroanatomy
Understanding neuroanatomy is a cognitive challenge. The visual relationship between
the volumetric forms of subcortical structures and their appearance in cross-section is
particularly difficult to grasp. This relationship between volumetric and cross-sectional
appearances is important to understand for medical and biomedical communications
students as diagnostic imaging modalities represent three-dimensional anatomy as
sequences of cross-sectional slices. In order to foster a more robust understanding of
both volumetric and cross-sectional neuroanatomy, a high-fidelity 3D polygonal model
of the human brain will be created. The model will then be used in the development of an
interactive web-based application that will allow for real-time slicing of the brain model at
any angle. By allowing for real-time slicing interactions with a brain model, students will
have the opportunity to investigate the cross-sectional appearance of any structure in any
plane and understand the complex spatial relationships between subcortical structures.
Jean Lin
Chronic Low Back Pain: Unwrapping The Mystery of Low Back Pain Through 3D Body
Architecture and Multi-dimensional Mechanisms
Low back pain (LBP) is a worldwide health problem that has considerable influence on
individual quality of life. Increasing evidence suggests that most chronic LBP develops from
multifactorial causes, and the treatment strategies are most effective when combining
physical activity, medication and psychotherapy. However, it is difficult for patients
to understand their pain condition and treatment strategies. Lack of understanding
makes patients feel frustrated to maintain the persistent effort required to improve
chronic LBP condition. My animation demonstrates the complex lower back structures
as well as explains the mechanisms of LBP treatment strategies. Understanding the
LBP mechanisms will help patients perceive the treatment efficacy and knowing the
complexity of LBP will reinforce the importance of using a combination treatment strategy.
The goal of this project is to aid in patientsí understanding of their health condition,
increase adherence to treatment and encourage self-management of chronic LBP.
Man-San Ma
Visualization of the Toll-like receptor 4 signaling pathway- A web and lecture based
animation for teaching and learning
The innate and adaptive immune systems form the pillars of the mammalian immune system.
While understanding the innate immune system is fundamental to appreciating the basic
mechanisms that regulate the immune response, signaling pathways are challenging to
mentally visualize, posing a learning barrier for many undergraduate students. My project will
focus on the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) pathway, a cornerstone of the innate immune system
that controls the onset of sepsis, which is a leading cause of death in Canadian hospitals. My
approach is to provide a dynamic 3D animation that will enable students to pause and play,
therefore reducing their cognitive load through segmented learning and self-pacing. This
animation opens with a scene of a girl in a kitchen composited with video footage and 3D models
of bacteria to depict that the risk of bacterial infection, and concludes by stating the importance
of understanding TLR-4 signaling pathways in new treatment strategies for immune diseases.
14
Amanda Montañez
Visual tools to support informed choice in midwife-led maternity care
Midwives emphasize childbearing as a normal physiological process and empower women to
manage their own individual experiences of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood. Throughout
her tenure with a client, the midwife conducts a series of informed choice discussions (ICDs),
in which she presents the woman with various health topics and explains their options. The
midwife tries to help her client weigh the respective risks and benefits and come to a decision
without feeling judged or unfairly persuaded. These conversations can be difficult, especially
when significant health risks are involved. Barriers such as time, quantity, and complexity
of material present challenges that could potentially be alleviated by an additional resource.
My project will consist of a counseling tool focusing on two specific ICD topics: group B
strep, and postdates pregnancy. For each topic, I am creating both a printed pamphlet (for
use during ICDs) and a web-based module (for use by women independently). I am also
conducting an evaluation and will complete a research paper associated with this project.
Brendan Polley
Utilizing a 3D gesture-based natural user interface for undergraduate anatomy education
The development of natural user interfaces (NUIs) represents an exciting new frontier for
interacting with complex three-dimensional (3D) virtual environments. In any 3D virtual
environment, selecting objects becomes difficult as the scene becomes densely populated
and structures are occluded. In industries such as game development, designers work
around this limitation by creating open environments with large amounts of space between
objects. Medical illustrators are not afforded the same luxury since models of anatomy
represent environments with no true empty space. Accessing occluded objects requires a
user to either distort their point of view, or remove obstructions entirely. Although individual
structures can be observed, important spatial relationships between anatomical structures
is lost. The goal of my project is to develop a NUI-based educational tool to help undergraduate
anatomy students understand the spatial relationships of the circulatory system. By
Cheryl Song
Esophageal Health E-Learning Centre
My MRP is a patient education website that informs patients with, gastroesophageal reflux
disease (GERD) or Barrett’s Esophagus (BE), about the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma
(EAC) in an engaging manner, in order to increase screening/regular monitoring and
compliance. A major component of this website is an interactive 3D model of the upper
gastrointestinal (GI) tract with acid reflux simulation, which allows patients to observe the
changes in the esophageal lining that can occur due to acid reflux. The patients will be able to
appreciate the subtle differences between BE and dysplasia, and understand why endoscopy
with biopsy is crucial to detecting early stage EAC. In another part of the website, I would like to
evaluate the impact of interactivity embedded within a linear visualization. Using CreateJS to
create HTML5 canvas animations, there will be short animation clips about the digestive system
in this website, which engage the viewer and give them an opportunity to explore and learn.
Andrew Tran
Andrew Tubelli
Visualization of Spatial and Temporal Scaling in a Molecular Environment Using
Three-Dimensional Animation Techniques
The goal of this project is to create two animations that will be used to compare how the
concept of space and time within a cell are depicted. The animations will incorporate
consistent rendering styles, camera motion, and sound effects while varying the technique
used to depict spatial and temporal scaling. Spatial scales will include the cellular,
molecular, amino acid, and atomic scales, which will correspond to the motions seen at each
level: random motion, conformational change, side chain rotation, and thermal vibration.
The first animation will use a more traditional approach of zooming into the different levels
of the cell while maintaining a constant frame rate, regardless of temporal scale. The
second animation, inspired by existing cinematic techniques, will use a time-scaling effect,
whereby frame rate will be sped up and slowed down at each level relative to the other
levels and to real time. The scene selected for depiction in both animations is the molecular
pathway that results in contraction of a smooth muscle cell. The final animations will be
evaluated as part of a research study conducted by Drs. Jodie Jenkinson and Gaël McGill..
Marissa Webber
Parkinsonís and the Probe: A New Imaging System to Monitor Neural Changes
The motor deficits of Parkinsonís disease are a result of neurodegeneration. Dopaminergic
neurons in the substantial nigra synapse on D1 and D2 neurons of the striatum. This
communication mediates fine motor control. Symptoms of Parkinsonís (tremors, shaking,
slow movements, difficulty with posture and walking) are correlated to the extent of
dopaminergic cell death, and the interruption of this communication. Administering doses of
L-DOPA (a precursor to dopamine) alleviate symptoms for a period of time. Researchers at
Laval University have developed a new probe-based imaging system able to monitor neural
changes in the same individual over a period of time. Transgenic, healthy mice are given a toxin,
inducing the onset of the disease. When symptoms heighten, L-DOPA is then administered.
The probe can be used to monitor D1/D2 neural changes in the striatum, ultimately discovering
the differences between a healthy, non-Parkinsonian brain, a diseased brain, and a recovered
brain post-treatment. I am developing a 3-D animation to describe these principles,
and to reconstruct the striatum and probe to simulate the mechanics of image capture.
Alice Zheng
Visualizing Captorhinus aguti tooth development
Captorhinus aguti is a critter that lived during the later Paleozoic era (roughly 290 million years
ago). C. aguti is often studied as an ancestral species to modern reptiles, but its mechanism
of tooth development is evolutionarily unique. That’s because its tooth bearing bones often
present with several rows of teeth, which are replaced over the course of its lifetime in a
“conveyer belt” fashion, drifting over the jaw due to differential rates of bone accretion and
reabsorption. Describing this process is a challenge, since many simultaneous events
must come together in space and time to produce this “tooth drift” effect. That’s why I’m
creating an animation that reproduces and explains this interesting phenomenon. Using Maya
models and simulations, I hope to produce an engaging visualization that clearly describes
the process of C. aguti tooth development for paleontology researchers and students.
Beyond the diffraction barrier: An exploration of 3D visualization and interactive media to describe super-resolution microscopy as applied to neurobiology
Light microscopy plays an important role in cell biology for studying living cells. However,
conventional microscopy is limited by its lowered imaging resolution due to the diffraction
properties of light. Scientists have turned to other imaging technologies to achieve higher
resolutions but these technologies can only observe fixed and non-living cells. To address this
limitation, super-resolution microscopy (SRM) was developed to enable investigation of subcellular processes in living cells, beyond the diffraction barrier. To facilitate understanding,
support, and adoption of the technology, I am creating a 3D animation to visually explain the
higher-level principles of several SRM techniques, using visualization of neuronal dendritic
spines and subcellular processes to deliver complex and difficulty concepts. Additionally, I
am also developing a simple interactive walk-through to instill deeper understanding of one
SRM technique introduced in the animation, called Switching LAser Mode (SLAM) microscopy,
a technique developed by Dr. Yves De Koninck's research team at Université Laval, Quebec.
15
16
Announcements
Announcements
Letter from Stockholm, Sweden!
Publications, launch and release!
Dear BMCAA and fellow medical illustrators,
A lot of water have passed under the bridges,
since I graduated as a medical illustrator, in
AAM at UofT 1977. At that time we were only
450 medical illustrators in the world and none
working in northern Europe. We still don't
have any education for this wonderful and
exclusive profession!
Since 2011 I have had the benefit of teaching
mainly medicine and geriatrics. I love and
enjoy the teaching situation together with my
students.
In December 2012 I got remarried, to my
wonderful chinese wife Peiling. She is a pianist
and singer from Hunan, China. As we are both
I have worked in my home country Sweden, pianists, we share the joy of music. And, now
both as a freelance medical illustrator in my we are awaiting our first baby girl on March
own studio and as employed by a big university 27! This is something my wife and I want to
celebrate and spread to you all.
hospital in Stockholm.
Our three children were born between 1983
and 1989. I wanted to be more at home
with my children and became a teacher.
Free weekends, long holidays and summer
vacations. And, for many years my friend and
professor Nancy Joy and I exchanged letters
and she was also a great support to our
children.
Take care,
Peiling and Tommy Hellstrom
P.S. Thanks for giving us this chance to say
hello to you all and share three enclosed pics.
D.S.
Skydiver: Saving the Fastest Bird in the World
By Celia Godkin; Pajama Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1-92748561-3 (bound) $19.95
With dynamic oil illustrations, author and wildlife artist Celia Godkin effortlessly captures the detail of the falcons and
brings to life the different landscapes they inhabit. Skydiver
will delight and inform readers with a passion for species
preservation, as it documents the struggles and the eventual success of the efforts to save the fastest bird in the world.
I'm pleased to announce the release of my new book!
The inspiring story of how the peregrine falcon was saved from the brink of disaster.
High in the sky, a peregrine falcon joins her mate for some swooping and diving before returning to her nest to guard her eggs. The couple doesn’t know it yet, but they will lose most of
these eggs; the first clutch to a volunteer scaling the cliff, and the next to the harmful effects
of DDT. Told against the backdrop of scientists’ efforts to understand the raptors’ decline in the
wild, this illustrated non-fiction book tells the story of several generations of falcons as they’re
taken to a sanctuary, reintegrated into the wild, and ultimately relocated to the ledge of a city
skyscraper.
Publication details from www.pajamapress.ca
Celia Godkin, former BMC faculty
Announcements
Our daughter has arrived!
Tommy Hellström (7T7) and Peiling Hellström baby
We are glad to announce that our beloved daughter
Bonny has arrived on April 6, 2014 at 6:37 p.m. She was
born at BB Stockholm, Sweden.
She weighed 3,785g at birth, have very much dark hair
and is 54 cm tall today. Supertalented? Yeah, of course!
Bonny is smiling and looking, lifting her head already
the first day and is overall very patient. We are a very
happy family!
Happy Easter,
Peiling, Bonny and Tommy Hellstrom
17
Photos by Tommy Hellstrom (7T7)
Illustration by Celia Godkin, Photo by Tommy Hellstrom (7T7)
18
BMCAA Forum Release!
by Stuart Jantzen (1T3)
Those of you who were at the BMCAA UnCon this
past November will remember that I spoke on a
proposal for an online community for BMC alumni. I
was happy to see a positive response to the idea, and
now it is my privilege to announce the launch of the
Biomedical Communications Alumni Association
Online Community. Andrea Gauthier (1T2) and I
(Stuart Jantzen, 1T3) have put a lot of work into the
design and implementation of this community and
we are proud to share it with all of you. Please feel
free to visit bmcaa.com while you read the rest of
this unabashedly promotional article.
Some reasons for creating a new online space that
complements the Facebook group, BMC wiki, and
AMI OMC, to name a few, include increased contact
among alumni and the fostering of a more tightly
integrated community. I imagine this venue will
allow us to see some of the amazing professional
work that is being produced by our graduates.
There is also a dedicated forum called The Shuttle
Bus (alumni that graduated before the BMC move
to Mississauga will be unacquainted with the
jarring commute) where people can chat about
anything of interest, such as new jobs, new babies,
and new Wacom tablets. Sometimes it can be hard
to find motivation and time outside of work to draw,
sculpt, or be creative in other ways, and there are
a number of features of the forum that I hope will
stimulate rich productivity and provide a creative
outlet to take advantage of the spare moments in
our day. Finally, the alumni of the BMC program
are undeniably interdisciplinary experts and are
therefore able to "give back" with domain-specific
support.
For the time being, this forum is an exclusive club.
Only BMC alumni, current students, and faculty are
able to register, and one must be logged in to view
any content. If you register, and I hope you will, you
will need to provide a username with which you will
create posts and participate. Your real name and
graduating class are also required. Your mailing
address is not required, though if provided will not
be visible to anyone other than administrators.
Once you have registered and the administrator
has activated your account, you can read the About
(i.e. welcome) message and start posting!
It is worth mentioning that a certain level of
professionalism is expected, if only for the reason
that your posts could be read by a future employer
or colleague. Anonymity is hard to come by in our
small industry, although I feel this is more often a
blessing than a curse.
There are currently five "sub-forums" where
you can post questions and receive support. For
example, if you happen to have a question about
Photoshop, you would navigate to the Illustration
forum and click New Topic. Include a meaningful
Subject and ask your question in the main text
area. Below the text area is an Upload Attachment
tab where you can provide an image such as an
annotated screenshot, which is very helpful for
crowd-sourced troubleshooting. Click Submit and
wait for the hordes of willing volunteers to aid you
in your crisis.
There is much more happening in the online
community than simply question and answer.
Browse through other members' Work in Progress
and digital Sketchbooks. Join in the monthly
challenges to build up your portfolio or just have
some creative fun. This month (May-June 2014),
members are invited to create a custom profile
picture using whatever medium they choose.
Some future monthly challenges to look forward
to might include digital animal sculpting, teaching
kids science using After Effects, redesigning
your portfolio site with WordPress, 2D traditional
animating, or rendering tissues with the mixer
brush (check out Andrea's tutorials on that topic).
The success of this community is now in your
hands. Without being trite, what you as an alumnus
will get out of the site will be directly proportional to
what you put into it. I believe there is a huge amount
of potential here and can only imagine how the
BMCAA Online Community might evolve and grow
in the future. I look forward to connecting with you
on the forum soon.
Housekeeping
BMC on Linkedin and Facebook
Follow BMC on Linkedin and on Facebook! You can catch the
latest news, see current job opportunities and contribute to
popular discussions on topics related to our profession. It’s easy
and free! Just go to www.linkedin.com and join the group called
Biomedical Communications Alumni and Students or visit the
BMC Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MScBMC.
Please Keep in Touch!
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.bmc.med.utoronto.ca/bmc/alumni
BMC wiki: www.bmc.med.utoronto.ca/bmcwiki
BMCAA Forum: bmcaa.com
NEW!
E
Alumni Missing In Action
Can you help us find the following AAM/BMC alumni?
Send us an e-mail at [email protected] if you know where they are hiding...
André Beerens 7T2
Randy Averback 7T9
Rick Billinghurst 7T3
Anne Marie Black 7T2
Lynn Goodchild (Kiraly) 7T4
Valerie Harrison 6T9
Elizabeth Imrie 5T3
Cathy Jeffery 8T5
Laurie Johnston 7T5
Frederick Kelly 4T9
Emilienne Lambert 7T6
Shumin Lee 8T9
Per Lundquist 7T1
Illustration by Olivia Yonsoo Shim
Jean MacGregor 7T2
Pat Parsons 7T0
Shirley Pavlik (Reddick) 7T4
Annette Porter 6T5
Glen Reid 6T9
Carolyn Richardson 7T9
Bev Ross 8T1
Grant Ross 5T8
Rasa Skudra 7T3
Lynn Smiledge (Waldo) 7T8
Jackie Steinmann 5T1
Judith Walker 6T9
Chris Yorke 9T5
Nadav Kupiec
Robin Hamilton
Beverley Nash
Christine Perchal
Gary Cousins
Carin Cain
Carolyn Olauson
Paul Pede
Sarah Beaton
Elenor Andrew
Jacquelyn Shaw
Stuart McGinniss
Davia MacDougall
MCAAnewsletter