This second international interdisciplinary conference aims to explore the past, present, and possible future of comics in the context of the healthcare experience. Programs in medical humanities have long touted the benefits of reading literature and studying visual art in the medical setting, but the use of comics in healthcare practice and education is relatively new. The melding of text and image has much to offer all members of the healthcare team, including patients and families. As such, a subgenre of graphic narrative known as graphic medicine is emerging as a field of interest to both scholars and creators of comics. 

We envision this gathering as a collaboration among humanities scholars, comics scholars, comics creators, healthcare professionals, and comics enthusiasts. Keynote speakers include Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics, and Making Comics, David Small, author of Stitches, and Phoebe Gloeckner, author of A Child's Life and Other Stories and Diary of a Teenage Girl. 

Through scholarly papers, poster presentations, creator workshops, and panel discussions focused on medicine and comics in any form, this conference will explore the following topics: 

*graphic pathographies of illness and disability

*the use of comics in medical education

*the use of comics in patient care

*the interface of graphic medicine and other visual arts in popular culture

*ethical implications of using comics to educate the public

*ethical implications of patient representation in comics by healthcare providers

*trends in international use of comics in healthcare settings 

*the role of comics in provider/patient communication

*comics as a virtual support group for patients and caregivers

*the use of comics in bioethics discussion and education