Comic-Con 2016

A current wave of applied comics in health professions is drawing serious attention from comics scholars, medical journals, public health advocates, and health-care providers. Although health education and promotion comics have been used for decades, the emergence of "graphic medicine" as an area of scholarship has sparked newfound interest. This panel convenes health professionals and comics artists actively creating comics to educate patients and the public in the areas of diabetes, asthma, emergency preparedness, influenza, HIV/AIDS, and more. Alex Thomas (Booster Shot Comics), Gary Ashwal (Booster Shot Comics), Meredith Li-Vollmer (Public Health-Seattle & King County), Claire Berman (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health), and Catherine Leamy (Massachusetts General Hospital) introduce a variety of comics currently used in public health campaigns, patient education programs, and research studies. The session will conclude with an open, interactive discussion with attendees to consider new directions and collaboration opportunities for health-care comics for both practitioners and scholars.