Guides @ UF: Graphic Medicine: Graphic Medicine Activities at HSCL

Publications and Grants

Publications on Graphic Medicine by UF Librarians:

Pomputius, A., & Otto, M. (2025). Using Comics to Discuss the Geriatric Clerkship Experience. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2025.2463891

Hough, C. & Hall T.B. (2025). Work-Life Balance, Marginalized Communities and Patient Care: Showcasing Library Resources with Monthly Book Lists. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2025.2465610

Pomputius, A., & Tennant, M. R. (2023). Assessing Health Students’ Knowledge of and Perceived Utility and Effectiveness of Graphic Medicine Materials. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 42(4), 330–345. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2023.2260674

Norton, H. F., Ansell, M. E., Pomputius, A., Edwards, M. E., Daley, M., & Harnett, S. (2019). HIV/AIDS information promotion at the library: creative campaigns for young adults. Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 107(2), 222–231. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2019.588

Houk, K. M., Pomputius, A., Noe, M., Green, M. (2017). Comics in the Clinic: Librarians promoting graphic medicine for education and outreach. In Olivia Miller, & Stephanie Grimm (Eds.), Comics and Critical Librarianship for Academic Libraries Sacramento, CA: Library Juice Press.

Graphic Medicine Grant Activities:

Confronting Violence: Creating Engagement with Domestic Violence History and Prevention - Funded Fall 2024

Grant funded distribution rights payment to artist Sheyenne Johnson for her zine Red Flag/Green Flag--on positive and negative indicators in relationships--at various events around the exhibit.

What Makes a Monster? A Community-Wide Discussion - Funded Spring 2018

Grant funded an art contest and a comic contest on "what makes a monster", with art and panels displayed in the library.

Creative Campaigns to Promote HIV/AIDS Awareness Among UF Students - Funded Fall 2016

Grant funded a comic contest; comics from the contest were compiled in a zine with a list of HIV/AIDS resources and used in a marketing campaign for the UF community.

Teaching

At the University of Florida, any faculty or staff are welcome to apply to teach a one-credit (Un)Common Reads seminar course in the Undergraduate Honors Program. These courses are limited to 15 students and are oriented around a semester-long discussion of a single text (though in our case, we have frequently used two texts in dialogue). These are syllabi for those UnCommon Reads courses that UF librarians have led on the topic of or involving graphic medicine resources.

For other teaching ideas, GraphicMedicine.org hosts a Syllabus Repository, with syllabi from undergraduate, graduate, and health professional courses contributed by instructors around the world.

UnCommon Reads Fall 2023 - Perspectives in Graphic Medicine: Narrative, Education and Persuasion
Through examples of the genre and meta-narratives texts, this course will explore the various purposes of the field of graphic medicine—the intersection of healthcare and comics—and the potential conflicts that arise specifically in personal health experiences and narratives.
UnCommon Reads Fall 2021 - Exploring Women's Health Disparities through Narrative
This course is designed to explore women’s health and patient narratives through the comparison of two texts: an academic discussion of the history and the ongoing advocacy efforts of women of color for reproductive justice, and a graphic memoir about the author’s difficult experiences with conception and pregnancy.
UnCommon Reads Fall 2020 - Caring for Death: Provider Experiences with Palliative Care Patients
This course focuses on addressing death and dying as a healthcare provider using the graphic novel “Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371” by MK Czerwiec. Taking Turns is a memoir of Czerwiec’s time as a nurse in a Chicago HIV/AIDS unit during the height of the AIDS epidemic in America.
UnCommon Reads Spring 2020 - Exploring Women's Health Through Patient Narrative
This course is designed to explore women’s health and patient narratives through the comparison of two texts: a personal memoir from a woman struggling with undiagnosed endometriosis and her issues with advocating for her own health with disbelieving providers, and a graphic memoir about the author’s difficult experiences with conception and pregnancy.
UnCommon Reads Spring 2019 - End of the Line: Examining Death through Graphic Medicine
By engaging with both graphic novels you will compare and contract stylistic differences and explore varied perspectives of how humans experience the profound issues of caregiving for terminally ill loved ones, death, and the grief that results from loss.
UnCommon Reads Fall 2018 - Graphic Medicine Manifesto
Through examination of the book The Graphic Medicine Manifesto, this class explores the growth and development of the graphic novel genre as an important and valuable means of exploring illness narratives, experiences with the healthcare system, and training for healthcare professions.
UnCommon Reads Spring 2018 - End of the Line: Examining Death through Graphic Medicine
By engaging with both graphic novels you will compare and contract stylistic differences and explore varied perspectives of how humans experience the profound issues of caregiving for terminally ill loved ones, death, and the grief that results from loss.
UnCommon Reads Fall 2017 - Graphic Medicine Manifesto
Through examination of the book The Graphic Medicine Manifesto, this class explores the growth and development of the graphic novel genre as an important and valuable means of exploring illness narratives, experiences with the healthcare system, and training for healthcare professions.