Upcoming HSLS Classes and Events

On display at Falk Library from August 19 through September 30, 2019. Free and open to the public during regular library hours.

Upcoming Events:

The Art and Science of Science Comics with Dr. Jay Hosler on August 27 from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. in Scaife Hall room 1104.

Exhibit Description:

Though you may not have heard of medical comics before, they’ve been around for more than a decade. In 2007, Dr. Ian Williams coined the term “graphic medicine” to describe the portrayal of personal illness through comics. In 2012, author/illustrator Ellen Forney published a New York Times bestselling graphic memoir depicting her struggle to accept her diagnosis with bipolar disorder. MK Czerwiec published Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371 in 2017 to describe her time nursing AIDS patients throughout the 1990s.

These are just a few examples from a wide array of works that use comics to tell medical stories. Comics provide an accessible path for patients, health professionals, caregivers, and others to engage with subjects that are often painful or complicated.

The National Library of Medicine traveling exhibit Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived and Well-Drawn! recognizes and explores this literary genre through six display panels. Exhibit visitors can also peruse popular graphic medicine books and try their hand at drawing a medical symptom. Longtime graphic medicine enthusiasts and newcomers alike are welcome to attend.

This exhibition was produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Visitor Information:

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Scaife Hall is located on the University of Pittsburgh campus at 3550 Terrace Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261. The entrance to Falk Library is on the second floor of Scaife Hall. Please be aware that ongoing construction may limit normal points of access.

"The Art and Science of Science Comics"

Jay Hosler, PhD, Juniata College

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Scaife Hall, Room 1104 (11th Floor Conference Center)

3550 Terrace St, Pittsburgh, PA 15261

Refreshments will be served.

This lecture is free and open to the public.

Presented in collaboration with the exhibit Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived and Well-Drawn!, on display at Falk Library through September 30.

Jay Hosler is a biology professor at Juniata College and cartoonist. He enjoys telling stories about science and the natural world using quirky plots, silliness and derring-do. His first graphic novel (Clan Apis) won a Xeric Award and was selected for YALSA’s “2002 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults” and his second book The Sandwalk Adventures has garnered praise for its treatment of evolution and the life of Charles Darwin. A 2006 grant from the National Science Foundation made it possible for Dr. Hosler to develop a comic book textbook entitled Optical Allusions. His latest book, Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth, was a 2011 Junior Library Guild selection, a nominee for YALSA's 2012 "Great Graphic Novels for Teens," and has been included in the Texas Library Association's “Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List.”

He lives in central Pennsylvania with his wife and his two little nerdlings.