From the editor

In Our Own Backyard

By: Sue De Pasquale
Date: May 20, 2011

It’s a phenomenon that happens here almost every day.

A Hopkins scientist, eager to find a potential collaborator somewhere in the world who is doing research in a similar field, embarks on a literature search, makes inquiries across the country—and discovers that the sought-after collaborator is working two buildings over or right across the street … at Johns Hopkins.

When planning illustrations for the magazine, we frequently cast a similarly wide net to find the best talent. The Internet now makes it possible for us to peruse the portfolios of artists from all over the world. And indeed, our recent issues have featured work from illustrators in Eastern Europe, Canada, and the Western United States.

But when it came time to illustrate our cover story for this issue, which celebrates 100 years of Art as Applied to Medicine at John Hopkins, we looked for artistic collaborators much closer to home—to the modern day “disciples” of founding visionary Max Brödel. They didn’t disappoint.

From our first meeting, department chair Gary Lees and his talented faculty team embraced the project with energy, enthusiasm, and expertise. The resulting illustrations, seen on the cover and in colorful splendor on pages 22 and 23, carry the bylines of David Rini and Jennifer Fairman but feature the work of dozens of faculty, students, and alumni. (The duo earnestly asked us to include all their names, but space constraints made that impossible.)

It’s easy to see why Hopkins scientists love collaborating with this group—and why these artists frequently share authorship credit on academic papers.

I’m confident that if Max Brödel were alive today, he’d be beaming with pride.