recent biomedvisualization

Biomedical visualisation and society

Avatar for Thomas Söderqvist Thomas Söderqvist

Curators in medical museums that plan to get involved with the powerful practices of contemporary biomedical visualization (we all do, don’t we?) might learn something from the announced ‘Biomedical Visualisations and Society’ seminar and workshop series at the University of Warwick Medical School next spring with the aim  to critically explore the social and political implications of biomedical imaging […]

Curators in medical museums that plan to get involved with the powerful practices of contemporary biomedical visualization (we all do, don’t we?) might learn something from the announced ‘Biomedical Visualisations and Society’ seminar and workshop series at the University of Warwick Medical School next spring with the aim 

  • to critically explore the social and political implications of biomedical imaging
  • to gain technical knowledge of visualisation
  • to foster collaboration and networking between early-career researchers

Each of the four two-day workshop will combine a key-note lecture, time for discussion and an opportunity to engage with visualisation in practice. What distingushes this seminar series from many others is exactly the combination of theory and practical approaches.

  • The Transparent body? Diagnostic Radiology, 26-27 January 2010. Keynote Speaker: Kelly Joyce, College of William and Mary, VA, USA. Includes a guided visit to the radiology department of the local hospital with Richard Wellings, Consultant Radiologist, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire.
  • Anatomical Bodies: Plastinated Prosections in Medical Education, 13-14 April 2010. Keynote speaker: Maryon McDonald, University of Cambridge, UK. Includes an introduction to anatomy using plastinated body parts, by Peter Abrahams, Professor of Anatomy, University of Warwick.
  • Virtual Reality and its Application to Healthcare, 24-25 May 2010. Keynote Speaker: Rachel Prentice, Cornell University, USA. Includes a visit to the Digital Lab, University of Warwick, guided by Professor Vinesh Raja.
  • 3D Foetal Ultrasound, 6-7 July 2010. Keynote Speaker: Lisa M. Mitchell, University of Victoria, Canada Includes a visit to 4D scan provider ‘Babybond’, with company director Jan Steward.

The only thing that troubles me about this initiative is that the workshop/seminar website is so visually challenged. I mean, this is a scholarly field with plenty of first-class visual material — and then the website that is supposed to lure postgrad students to attend the workshops looks like it’s competing for the UKPVB (UK prize for visual boredom). Maybe they should have added an aim about tthe aesthetic implications as well 🙂