FREQUENTLY ASKED questions

An undergraduate degree (B.A., B.S. or B.F.A.)

Science pre-requisites: general chemistry, vertebrate anatomy*, vertebrate physiology*, and an upper level biological science (at least one of the following: cell biology, developmental biology (embryology), histology, molecular biology, or immunology).
*A two semester course in Human Anatomy and Physiology may be substituted for both courses.

A strong art portfolio demonstrating ability to realistically render observed subject matter: Drawing, Figure Drawing, Graphic Design, Color Media and Digital Media.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills with at least one course in English composition.

---

The students enrolled in our program represent an even split between biology/pre-med majors and fine art majors. We evaluate art preparation on the portfolio, not grades. We evaluate science achievement by the student's transcript, considering final grade and the level and rigorousness of each course.

---

Yes, applicants must be able to show that they can complete all four science pre-requisites prior to matriculation into the program. Most science work should be completed prior to the January 15th Portfolio/Profile due date.

The students enrolled in our program take medical school courses with the Johns Hopkins medical students and are held to the same standards for testing and lab performance. We need to be sure our applicants are qualified to pass these challenging courses and perform rigorous thesis investigations in order to receive their Master of Arts degree from this institution. We do not require GRE scores. We screen applicants very carefully for excellent preparation and grades in undergraduate science coursework, to set them up for success at the graduate level.

---

After reading the specific portfolio requirements (on this website) interested candidates submit a 20-image portfolio and a 2-page Applicant Profile form (pdf format) anytime during the year but no later than January 15th of the admission year. On average, we receive 40 to 50 Portfolios and Profiles each year.

After January 15th, the Admissions Committee notifies candidates who qualify for final consideration, provides access to the online application site, and invites them for a personal interview to review original art from their portfolios. Due dates for the formal application and supporting materials (letters of reference and transcripts) will be provided by the Director at the time the interview date is set and will be no less than three days prior to the interview date. On average the Committee invites 10 to 15 candidates for interview.

---

:: 15 to 20 samples of artwork.
:: Examples of all 5 required art categories: general drawing, figure drawing, graphic design, color media and digital media.
:: A minimum of 5 figure studies.
:: A minimum of 2 digital media pieces (graphic design or illustration).
:: Additional examples may include: sculpture, prints, digital animations, multimedia presentations or 3D illustrations.
:: Medical subject matter should not be included.
:: Only properly identified artwork will be reviewed.

Use the Portfolio Identification Form on back of the Applicant Profile Form to identify your artwork as follows:
:: Title or assignment
:: Medium
:: Original size
:: Date of completion
:: Source (direct observation or photograph)

---

Digital Portfolio :: Submit images as both a PowerPoint presentation and as individual JPEG (.jpg) files on a CD formatted for Mac or PC. The image size for the individual JPEG files, including detail images, should be 7.5 inches high by 10 inches wide at 300 ppi (pixels per inch). Identify each JPEG file by number and last name or initials (01Smith.jpg). Note: the Admissions Committee is interested in viewing artistic details and subtleties of your artwork. Therefore, you may wish to include additional detail JPEG files of selected images to enhance your portfolio (01Smith+d.jpg).

Slide Portfolio :: Please submit the 35mm slides in an 8.5 by 11 slide sheet and identify each slide by number and last name (01Smith). Keeping the slide image upright, place a red dot in the lower left corner of the mount. Detail slides should also be identified (01Smith+a).

---

Realistic rendering of observed subject matter including life drawing, still life, landscape and portraits.

We are looking for excellent draftsmanship, good sense of realistic proportions, understanding light on form, ability to render various textures convincingly and ability to focus the viewer's eye within a drawing.

Please see the specific list of portfolio requirements on our web site.

---

Categories of art not helpful to the committee in predicting how successful a student will be in this career include: abstract or non-representational art, collage, images drawn exclusively from photographic reference, fantasy drawings, photography, non-representational sculpture, and functional art (fiber arts, pottery, etc). It is acceptable to include one or two examples in your portfolio to round out your presentation as an artist; however, these should not dominate your portfolio nor should they be substituted for the required categories such as life drawing.

---

The Faculty on the Admissions Committee have devoted their entire professional careers to creating, teaching and critiquing medical and biological illustration. Discrepancies in the accuracy of the anatomy, breaks in medical or scientific convention, imperfections in handling of illustrated instruments, and the like will be noticed immediately by the faculty on the Admissions Committee and this will distract focus away from the artistic capability you intend to demonstrate by that piece of art. Distracting the Committee away from your ability to draw is the absolute last thing you want to do in an admissions portfolio.

---

The 20-image portfolio and completed 2-page Applicant Profile form may be mailed, no later than January 15th, to:

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Department of Art As Applied to Medicine
1830 E. Monument Street, Suite 7000
Baltimore, MD 21287-0022

If using Fed Ex or UPS, please use 410-955-3213 as the telephone reference.

---

The Admissions Committee does not require GRE scores. However, if you take the GRE, TOEFL, or IELTS exams, please have your scores submitted to Institution Code 5316, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Graduate Programs.

---

We receive close to a thousand inquiries per year regarding our graduate program.

40-50 applicants send the 20-slide portfolio for us to review (with the accompanying Applicant Profile form).

We invite the top 10 to 15 candidates to interview and to submit the full application with letters of recommendation and official transcripts.

We accept 5 to 7 students each year.

---

Yes. If you have not graduated from an English-speaking college/university, you will need to present proof of English language ability such as scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS). While the Committee does not publish a minimum score, they anticipate viewing high marks in all sections (reading, listening, speaking, and writing).

Also, while you will qualify for Departmental scholarship funds, you may not qualify for US Federal Loan monies. You will need to show the ability to cover the cost of tuition, fees and living expenses as part of the F1 Student Visa. Once offered a position as a student by the Admissions Committee, the Office of International Student, Faculty, and Staff Services will assist international students with the processing of visa paperwork.

---

Tuition is currently $42,600/year.

---

Substantial Department scholarship funds provide partial tuition support to all students. There is no separate application process for these Departmental scholarships. Additional financial aid, awarded on the base of need, consists of Department and University loan funds as well as loans from outside lenders (under US Federal loan programs). Students are encouraged to apply for graduate student loan support. The Financial Aid Office of the Medical School certifies the eligibility of students for the US Federal loan programs.

Financial considerations are confidential and individually determined, and do not influence admissions decisions.

---

No. This is a full time two-year commitment.

---

Yes, the best time to visit the department is in June or July. Limited visits are possible between April and October. If you are interested in getting feedback on a preliminary portfolio, we are happy to review these online and provide written or verbal (phone) feedback without the need to travel to Baltimore.

---

Medical illustration is artwork depicting medical subject matter, created by highly trained and skilled professional artists for a specific audience. Medical illustrations convey ideas and concepts in medicine that are difficult to represent in words or photographs. Illustration styles can range from highly technical and detailed to artistic and stylized. Accuracy is important regardless of the style. Medical illustrations are used in a wide variety of fields that depend on imagery to convey meaning and information. These include the advertising, editorial, institutional, legal, patient education, academic, and scientific research fields. Positioned at the forefront of medical advancement, medical illustration is frequently used to convey new developments and concepts that impact medical research and improve patient care.

---

The combination of artistic skill and scientific training allows medical illustrators to fill a unique niche. Professional medical illustrators are highly trained in both medicine and visual communications, making them uniquely qualified to visually represent medical and scientific information with clarity and accuracy. Medical illustrators are familiar with medical subject matter and terminology and can converse easily and efficiently with their medical clients to create effective visuals.

More specifically, most medical illustrators differ from traditional artists in that they spend several years in a specialized degree program at a medical school taking coursework side-by-side with medical students. Medical illustrators take the same lectures, labs and exams, and are graded on the same curve as students aspiring to be surgeons, anesthesiologists, and pediatricians. While medical students dissect cadavers to develop an understanding of the inner workings of the body, medical illustrators-in-training go one step further. They must combine their developing medical knowledge and growing artistic abilities to visually represent what they are seeing. In addition to hands-on dissections, students of medical illustration examine radiographs, study pathologies under a microscope, and spend time in operating rooms. This combination of rigorous medical training plus course work in illustration and communication design is unique to medical illustrators.

---

The majority of professional medical illustrators in the United States and Canada have a Master's degree from an accredited graduate program in medical illustration. There are currently four programs in the United States and one in Canada that are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP). Each program accepts 4 - 16 students each year, so entrance into the schools is very competitive. The following graduate programs are accredited by CAAHEP:

• Medical College of Georgia
• University of Illinois
• Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
• University of Toronto

Accreditation is a status granted to educational programs that meet or exceed a specific set of criteria for educational quality. The Association of Medical Illustrators developed the first set of educational standards for accreditation and began accrediting graduate programs in 1967. Today, accreditation is awarded by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Educational Programs (CAAHEP), and the accreditation standards are reviewed and revised every few years to reflect changes in the profession.

High school students contemplating medical illustration as a career should take a college preparatory program with as much emphasis on art and science as possible.

In college, students should concentrate on art and biology. Art courses should include drawing, life drawing, painting, color theory, graphic design, illustration, and computer graphics. In the sciences, studies should include general biology or zoology, vertebrate anatomy, developmental biology, physiology, chemistry, and cell biology. The science courses must be of the caliber required for pre-med or biology majors. Please see the list of requirements for application to the Johns Hopkins AAM Graduate Program.

---

Many medical illustrators choose to enhance their careers by becoming board certified. Certification is a program endorsed by the Association of Medical Illustrators (AMI) to encourage lifelong learning and to measure professional competency for practicing medical illustrators. This voluntary certification program is designed to provide the practicing medical illustrator with the recognizable and valuable Certified Medical Illustrator (CMI) credential, which assures stakeholders of their current competency in the profession.

There is no relationship between certification and membership in the AMI or any other organization, so any practicing medical illustrator meeting the eligibility requirements may apply.

The certification program is administered by The Board of Certification of Medical Illustrators (BCMI), an independent body that objectively measures and evaluates exam results and awards certification to applicants upon successful completion. The BCMI follows the standards of the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) and the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA), recognized leaders in setting quality standards for credentialing organizations to ensure the health, welfare, and safety of the public.

A Certified Medical Illustrator has successfully passed exams including biomedical science, business practices and ethics, and has undergone rigorous portfolio review. Competencies are maintained by meeting continuing education requirements and must be renewed every five years. For more information on certification of medical illustrators, please visit the Board of Certification website.

---

The Association of Medical Illustrators is an international organization founded in 1945. Its 700+ members are primarily artists who create material designed to facilitate the recording and dissemination of medical and bio-scientific knowledge through visual communication media. Members include illustrators, animators, 3D artists, art directors, and other subspecialties of our profession. In addition to the creation of visuals, members also serve in consultant, advisory, educational and administrative capacities in all aspects of bio-scientific communications and related areas of visual education. Members can join at the Student or Associate level. Professional members are approved by vote of the Board of Governors, after a review of recommendations by the Membership Committee. This category requires portfolio review, sponsorship and experience as a medical illustrator. Only Professional Members may vote on Association business and hold office.

The professional objectives of the AMI are to promote the study and advancement of medical illustration and allied fields of visual communication, and to promote understanding and cooperation with the medical profession and related health science professions. For more information, please visit the AMI website at ami.org.

---

The Vesalius Trust for Visual Communication in the Health Sciences is a non-profit public foundation. Established under the direction of the Board of Governors of the AMI in 1988, the Trust develops and supports education and research programs in the field of health science communications. The Vesalius Trust also provides student scholarships, educational grant funding, support for the AMI's annual meeting, and support to the AMI Archives.

For more information, please visit the Vesalius Trust Website.

---

Please visit the AMI website at ami.org.

---

Prostheses are custom made for the individual. They are not "off the shelf" items. Several appointments will be needed to create a safe and effective prosthesis that is also realistic in appearance. Please call 410-955-8215 to set up an appointment or consultation. We look forward to speaking with you.

---

Prostheses are considered durable medical equipment and are covered by most medical plans (including Medicare) under the DME rider portion of their policy. A Certificate of Medical Necessity is requested from the referring physician to establish the medical need.

---

The patient will need to wait a period of time after surgery for healing to occur before treatment begins. It is preferable that all swelling subsides so the impression that is taken as the first step is accurate. Otherwise the final prosthesis will show noticeable gapping in previously swollen areas. The physician is consulted to determine when the patient is ready for prosthetic treatment.

---

The expected lifetime of the device is usually 1-3 years for an adhesive retained prosthesis; whereas osseointegrated prostheses tend to last 3-5 years. Since these are separate from the body and made from artificial materials, prostheses can be lost, damaged, or discolored by smoke and UV light. Subsequent remakes can be made using molds which are kept on file for the patient.

---

Retention of the prosthesis is one area that is of particular concern to the patient. Prostheses should be well retained to the tissues they cover. Prostheses are removed daily, at the end of the day. They are not permanently attached to the site. Various methods of retention with different strengths are available. These include: adhesive, attaching to glasses, tape and magnets, engaging anatomical undercuts, and osseointegrated implant fixtures (screws).

---

The retention method is considered during the treatment planning process and is chosen in consultation with the physician and patient based on factors such as age, visual acuity, manual dexterity, sensitivity of skin, and past radiation treatment.

---

Osseointegrated retention is considered state of the art. It is much less rigorous on the patient in that it does not require the patient to apply and remove adhesive on a daily basis. The patient simply attaches their prosthesis using a magnet or clip system.

---

Your prosthesis requires daily care and maintenance procedures. Prostheses are removed on a daily basis, and the skin, osseointegrated implant abutments and prosthesis are cleaned. If required, adhesive is applied and removed on a regular basis.

---