Master of Fine Arts in Medical Illustration

Rochester Institute of Technology

In RIT’s medical illustration degree you’ll become a highly skilled medical illustrator who can transform complex medical information into visual images that are used in education, research, patient care, public relations, legal cases, and health care marketing. A medical illustrator is a professional artist with advanced education in the biomedical sciences, cutting edge digital media, and the principles of visual communication. RIT’s medical illustration degree is one of only five such programs in North America and the only program in the northeast. It combines training in human anatomy (with illustration students observing complete cadaver dissection in RIT’s Cadaver Lab), immunology, histology (the cellular structure of organs), and pathophysiology (the study of disease) with extensive training in 2D and 3D digital graphics, interactive media, and animation. Collaborating with scientists, physicians, and other health care professionals, medical illustrators translate complex scientific information into visual images that support medical education, science research, patient care, advertising, and litigation. Illustration projects are designed for use in print, projection, broadcast media, and distribution via the web and mobile devices.This is a two-year, graduate-level medical illustration degree where you’ll earn a master of fine arts (MFA). The program emphasizes visual problem solving to determine the best approach to communicate a difficult concept. Students also gain real world experience by collaborating with medical researchers and observing live surgery in operating rooms. The program culminates with the production of a thesis project, which requires extensive background research and an original body of artwork on a complex medical topic.

College of Health Sciences and Technology