Medical Illustration

A medical illustrator is a professional artist with advanced education in the biomedical sciences, cutting edge digital media, and the principles of visual communication. RIT's medical illustration degree is one of only five such programs in North America and the only program in the northeast. It combines training in human anatomy (with illustration students observing complete cadaver dissection in RIT's Cadaver Lab), immunology, histology (the cellular structure of organs), and pathophysiology (the study of disease) with extensive training in 2D and 3D digital graphics, interactive media, and animation.

What is a Medical Illustrator?

Collaborating with scientists, physicians, and other health care professionals, medical illustrators translate complex scientific information into visual images that support medical education, science research, patient care, advertising, and litigation. Illustration projects are designed for use in print, projection, broadcast media, and distribution via the web and mobile devices.

RIT's Medical Illustration Degree

This is a two-year, graduate-level medical illustration degree where you'll earn a master of fine arts (MFA). The program emphasizes visual problem solving to determine the best approach to communicate a difficult concept. Students also gain real world experience by collaborating with medical researchers and observing live surgery in operating rooms. The program culminates with the production of a thesis project, which requires extensive background research and an original body of artwork on a complex medical topic.

Becoming a Medical Illustrator

Successful medical illustrators must possess exceptional illustration skills and artistic ability while also having in depth knowledge of the biological sciences in order to fully understand and effectively communicate complex medical information. In the MFA in medical illustration degree, you'll accomplish the following outcomes:

Demonstrate an advanced level of knowledge in the biomedical sciences

• Demonstrate advanced knowledge of human anatomy, molecular biology, physiology, and related biomedical sciences

Visualize scientific structures, processes, and concepts

• Visualize and accurately render anatomic, tissue, cellular, and molecular structures
• Illustrate physiological processes and abstract scientific concepts through visual storytelling

List instructional objectives to communicate biomedical content to a variety of target learners

• Identify the target learners (audience) for each set of instructional illustrations
• Describe the level of scientific literacy of each group of target learners
• Create a set of instructional objectives for each instructional illustration

Solve complex communication problems with appropriate application of verbal and visual content, realism, symbolism, graphic conventions, and motion or interactive media.

• Select the most appropriate medium for delivery of content to target learners
• Select appropriate level of realism, symbolism, and graphic conventions for optimal delivery of instructional objectives to target learners

Utilize a variety of media and production techniques in appropriate applications and understand production processes sufficiently to communicate with pre-press companies, art directors, etc.

• Create artwork in a variety of media
• Select the appropriate dimensions, color space, resolution, file format, and other criteria for delivery to client
• Use industry standard terminology when discussing production and output processes

Communicate effectively with clients, subject matter experts, co-workers, supervisors, and vendors in oral and written form

• Use correct anatomic and medical terminology when discussing scientific content

Demonstrate knowledge of professional and ethical conduct

• Describe HIPAA regulations regarding the use of patient information
• Follow operating room protocols at affiliated hospitals
• Describe US and international copyright laws and how they apply to the use of reference materials
• Describe copyright infringement and the criteria for determining Fair Use

Demonstrate awareness of established business and management practices

• Describe standard employment practices in the profession  
• Describe business models and taxation of independent illustrator
• Describe pricing strategies and calculate prices for illustration projects
• Create a personal identity package and marketing materials
• Generate sample contracts, licensing agreements, and invoices

Demonstrate competency in the academic research process through a graduate research project or thesis

• Conduct background research on a proposed biomedical topic
• Develop a set of instructional objectives to deliver the topic to a specific group of target learners
• Create a body of artwork to meet the instructional objectives
• Exhibit the body of work during one of the thesis shows or at a screening of digital media productions
• Complete a written thesis paper summarizing the project

Medical Illustrator Jobs

Graduates of RIT's medical illustration degree find employment with hospitals, medical schools, research centers, museums, medical publishers, advertising agencies, web design firms, animation studios, law firms, and a variety of other creative agencies. Since the MFA is considered the terminal degree in the arts, graduates may also teach in academic institutions or in a wide range of computer graphics, scientific illustration, or art programs. Organizations that employ our graduates include:

• Science magazine (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
• Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Rochester Medical Center
• New England Journal of Medicine
• Roswell Park Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY
• MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation
• Cell Press (publishers of Cell and other scientific journals)
• Nucleus Global (medical communications)
• Custom Learning Designs (pharmaceutical advertising)
• The Presentation Group (courtroom graphics)
• Bryan Christie Design (pharmaceutical advertising)
• Emmi Solutions (web and interactive media)
• Cleveland Institute of Art (scientific illustration program)
• Illustrated Verdict (courtroom graphics)
• National Capital Area Medical Simulation Lab, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (developing virtual surgical simulators)
• Visible Body/Argosy Medical Publishing (medical publishing and interactive media)
• Department of Imaging Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
• Springer Healthcare Communications (medical publishing)
• Legal Art Works (courtroom graphics)

Typical Job Titles