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Hasbro Children's surgery chief, artist and professor pens a book on medical illustration

G. Wayne Miller
The Providence Journal
MedSpeak Illuminated book cover

PROVIDENCE – Art has captivated François I. Luks since he was a child in his native Belgium and discovered a love for comics. Eventually, he became sufficiently accomplished that he drew a daily comic strip for newspapers. 

“I learned that way,” he said. “I didn't really have formal artistic education, but if you do it a lot, you end up getting better and better.” 

Combine that expertise with another of his passions, medicine – Luks is the pediatric surgeon-in-chief at Hasbro Children’s Hospital – and the result is his book, “MedSpeak Illuminated: The Art and Practice of Medical Illustration,” published last month by The Kent State University Press. 

The book grew out of a course Luks teaches to students at the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University, where he is a professor of surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology at the Warren Alpert Medical School. It draws on his own work illustrating some of his research and the research of colleagues.  

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Dr. Michael Herzlinger, left, greets visitors to one of the new pediatric endoscopy rooms during a tour of the ongoing renovations at Hasbro Children's Hospital. Looking on are Dr. Muhammad Riaz, rear, and Dr. François Luks, pediatric surgeon in chief.

Lavishly illustrated, 'MedSpeak Illuminated' has art on nearly every page 

“MedSpeak Illuminated” opens with the story of medical art, which dates to ancient civilizations – and possibly even to cave paintings. Leonardo da Vinci, arguably the greatest medical illustrator ever is featured, along with William Harvey, William Hunter and Frank Netter, names familiar to many doctors and Luks’ students, if not necessarily the lay person. 

Illustrated on nearly every page with classical drawings and paintings and many of Luks’ own illustrations (and, yes, a couple of his cartoons), “MedSpeak Illuminated” is aimed at a health-care audience and also, Luks told The Journal, the general public. 

But the question is begged: In this era of advanced technology, centuries after da Vinci’s time, what does art add to the medical equation? 

“Over the last century and a half, despite the fact that photography and videography have become so incredibly good they cannot necessarily explain or educate,” Luks said. “So what medical illustrators and scientific illustrators in general do is they try to explain a complex concept, medical or otherwise, to the public.” 

They do so, the surgeon said, by “choosing the point of view, choosing how much detail to show, doing cutouts, doing the things that photography cannot do to essentially explain things better. That means they need to understand topic. They need to know what angle they will take to explain something. They also need to know what their audience is – whether it's a patient, a colleague, a student. And so, rather than witnessing real life, which photography does, you can choose what to show and how to explain.” 

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The same principles are at work in another of Luks’ pursuits: his Rhodeside.Art drawing and notecards, his depictions of scenes including Del’s Lemonade, East Bay Bike Path, Benefit Street and the Providence River Footbridge, icons of Rhode Island, which his website calls “the smallest state” with “the coolest sights.” All proceeds from sales of the notecards benefit Hasbro Children’s Hospital. 

Dr. François Luks

Health inequities 

In presenting the history of medical illustration, Luks confronts the reality of longstanding biases in medical art – and also the beginning of changes in them, which are reflected in real-life health inequities. 

As the publisher writes, “currently, Luks asserts, an increased recognition that medical illustration has long been complicit in promoting a single (white, male) view of health and disease has begun to result in changes to practice and content. He argues that increasing diversity and equity―in illustration and among illustrators―is ultimately good for our health.” 

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Despite biases, “Luks also points to the scientific breakthroughs specifically made by illustrators,” The Kent State University Press concludes. “In addition, he highlights trends in medical education that emphasize humanism and compassion, thus making the need for better methods of communication even more urgent.” 

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