At the Intersection of Art and Biological Sciences
At the Intersection of Art and Biological Sciences
Courtney Wombles (’20) graduated from the University of Tennessee’s College Scholars Program in May after pursuing a program titled Biomedical Visualization and Health Literacy. This program merged her passions for art and biological sciences to investigate how illustrations can be used to communicate medical information. Combined with a minor in biological sciences, her program integrated courses in biology, chemistry, information sciences, art, and design in an effort to analyze how the arts and humanities can communicate content from the hard sciences.
“Much of my program was inspired by my undergraduate work at Preston Medical Library, where I provided consumer health information, assisted with medical literature research, and witnessed the impact that medical illustration-based materials and health literacy can have within the healthcare environment,” Wombles said.
With the guidance of her academic advisors, Wombles crafted a thesis focused on medical illustrations as a tool for improving health literacy, which is defined as the ability of an individual to obtain, comprehend, and utilize information related to their health.
“I witnessed the prominence and negative effects associated with low health literacy while working at Preston Medical Library, and I was inspired to apply my academic studies to the real-world problem,” Wombles said.
She designed her thesis project as a response to the gap existing in patient education materials that are suitable for promoting health literacy. Currently, much of the information used to educate patients about their health is inaccessible, written at too high of a level, and too difficult to utilize by the average consumer. The final product of her thesis provided a series of biomedical visualization-based materials for consumer health education, which were meant to serve as readable and accessible health information resources. The five-part thesis project centered on the most prominent chronic diseases in the United States: diabetes, pulmonary diseases, kidney diseases, coronary artery diseases, and cancer—more specifically, cervical cancer. Each project utilized a different artistic medium and was created with readability, accuracy, organization, and accessibility in mind.
After graduation, Wombles pursued a graduate school education. She is entering her final semester in the UT’s Master of Science in Information Sciences program, where she studies the scientific information pathway. As the graduate research assistant at Preston Medical Library and a practicum student at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Wombles has continued to work with health literacy and the communication of medical information.
“My most recent project was the development and management of a graphic medicine collection for the UT Medical Center, which explores the interaction between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare,” Wombles said.
Looking to her future, Wombles plans to continue her work at the intersections of art, design, science, literacy, education, and communication.
“Armed with two collegiate degrees and a Consumer Health Information Specialization from the National Library of Medicine, I hope to progress my research in an academic, medical, or scientific library environment,” Wombles said.
“No matter where I work or
pursue higher education in
the future, I always plan to
integrate the work I first
began as a member of the
College Scholars Program.”