Scholarship and Research Statement

 My scholarship is represented strongly by my thirty plus years of experience developing medical and scientific illustrations and animations for a variety of patient education companies, healthcare agencies, bio-pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and medical publishers. My scholarship primarily falls into the categories of application, pedagogy, integration, and engagement.

Application

The bulk of my professional commissioned work is disseminated by my clients through their publications, conference presentations, screenings and the web. Examples of the work can be seen on the scholarship page of my website. My commissioned projects undergo rigorous review from art directors, editors, and scientific research and content experts. Much of my commissioned work is based on proprietary science and engineering, so it is not readily accessible to the public.  

The “Boot Camp” grant was used to explore and define a “best practice” process for digitizing and optimizing several specimens, captured by photogrammetry, from the Ward collection at the University of Rochester (U of R). The premise of the grant came about because we contractually cannot photograph cadavers at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), so using modern digital methods (like photogrammetry) for recording and developing a database of 3D anatomical models is not possible. However, it is critically important for students to learn the techniques for processing photogrammetry data. By using data captured from the Ward collection, I was able to enhance student learning by incorporating these “best practice” processes into my classroom curriculum.

Teaching/Pedagogy 

Through collaboration with a teaching colleague (Jesse O’Brien), we were able to establish a course at RIT that combined students from medical illustration with students from gaming and multi-media to devise a prototype for anatomical learning using VR. We have given numerous presentations in both local venues and at international conferences regarding the cross-disciplinary collaboration, production-based learning and software development methodologies used to successfully run the course. In the case of the Association of Medical Illustrators conference and SIGGRAPH, the proposals we submitted were evaluated by open review and our presentations were evaluated by conference attendees.

At the time that Jesse and I conceived the VR course, there were few examples of virtual anatomical teaching tools. In recent years, there have been new products that have come to market. At the past American Association for Anatomy (AAA) conference, I was able to make industry connections with several companies that have interactive anatomical teaching tools. I plan to work with these new contacts to continue my research in VR learning.

Integration

I was recently invited to participate on a panel for “STEM to the Sky,” a nonprofit organization dedicated to showcasing diverse pathways and faces in STEM through interviewing professionals and students across a wide variety of STEM fields. Their interviews provide free and accessible educational content for middle and high school students globally to connect with STEM professionals, their unique backgrounds, and the inspiring work they do on a day-to-day basis. Highlights include Danni Washington, the first African American woman to host her own science TV show, and Craig Packer, founder of the world's first research center dedicated to the study of lions. They have reached students in 80+ different countries, and plan to continue empowering all students around the world to pursue their STEM aspirations!

“Coming across your profile, we were drawn to your extensive experience in medical illustration and 3D modeling of biological forms, both intriguing interdisciplinary fields of art and biology. It would be an honor if you would be willing to be a featured panelist at our event.”

“We wanted to thank you again for speaking at yesterday's panel. Without you, Rachel, and Yana, this panel would not have been as successful and enjoyable as it was. We are so incredibly honored and grateful for all the reflections and insights you both shared with us, and we know that we can speak on behalf of all our event attendees that we truly learned so much from you.”

Engagement

I am currently co-chair for the AMI program committee. As co-chair, I am responsible for guiding meeting planning for the 78th Annual Conference. https://meetings.ami.org/2024/

This year is special, as we are bringing the conference to downtown Rochester, NY. The decision to locate the conference in Rochester was made while I was still serving on the AMI board of governors. Rochester was chosen as a destination to celebrate the achievement of RIT’s graduate program becoming accredited. The accomplishment of accreditation was no small feat. While mostly driven by my teaching colleagues Jim Perkins and Glen Hintz, I did play a role in making sure the application paperwork was in order and that the site visit went smoothly.

Additionally, I made contributions to an article by Curt Wagner about the AMI conference published by PCMA Convene Magazine.

https://www.pcma.org/medical-illustrators-conference-illuminates-art-medicine/

PCMA educates, inspires, and listens, creating meaningful experiences where passion, purpose and commerce come together. They are the world’s largest community for Business Events Strategists, providing senior-level education, networking, and market intelligence for the global business events industry. Headquartered in Chicago, IL PCMA has 17 North American Chapters, regional communities in APAC, EMEA and LATAM, and members in 59 countries.

Research

In the spring of 2018, I was awarded a “Boot Camp” grant through Sponsored Research Services. The purpose of this grant was to provide seed funding to develop a grant project and proposal that could lead to an application for larger grants. I developed a proposal to explore and define a “best practice” process for digitizing and optimizing several specimens from the Ward collection at the University of Rochester. Our medical illustration grad students worked to capture the specimen data over the summer and convert the high-resolution data into low-resolution data that could be easily used and shared through interactive applications such as the U of R website. While waiting for confirmation on the Boot Camp grant, I applied for a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) for digitizing hidden collections. While I didn’t get approval for the CLIR grant, I did get good feedback from the review committee and used that feedback to reapply for the grant in subsequent years. The funding request for the CLIR grant was over $400,000.00 to be shared between RIT and the U of R. In 2019, and again in 2020, I continued to work with the Biology Department at the University of Rochester to find support from CLIR for bringing forward the U of R collection of biological specimens into a digital format that can be shared and accessed by everyone from researchers to the general public.  Unfortunately, we were not successful in securing the CLIR grant, so we are now exploring other grant opportunities through the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support digitizing the collection.

Through development of scanned models for the WARD project described above, I’ve been working on a best practice pipeline that includes documentation and edited step-by-step videos demonstrating how to properly create normal and displacement maps on 3D objects and how to use Z-brush or Mudbox to transfer high resolution texture maps to low polygon meshes. Currently the video is published and available on my personal YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6Z5fM87wX4

My current research involves determining if a VR solution can be used to improve learning outcomes for complex medical and scientific subject matter. I’ve completed the first phase of the project, which is the development of content to test. Working with students in Advanced Digital Technology for Medical Instruction (a course I developed), I’ve created a series of interactive neuroanatomy pathologies based on actual clinical cases. Using these interactive modules, I am working with Sponsored Research Services in the College of Health Science and Technology (CHST) to develop testing for students from the Physician Assistant program at RIT. The students will attempt to answer questions about advanced concepts in neuroanatomy, participate in a VR experience, and then attempt to answer similar advanced concept neuroanatomy questions to determine if their understanding of the concepts has improved.