Bringing pregnancy loss out of the shadows at the 15th International Graphic Medicine Conference in Athlone

21 Jul 2024

The 15^th International Graphic Medicine Conference took place at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) Athlone from 16-18 July. Attended by Professor Keelin O'Donoghue, Dr Brendan Fitzgerald and Marita Hennessy PhD, the event explored how to communicate complex medical information through comics and art, and included work from the Pregnancy Loss Research Group.

Dr Ian Williams – a comics artist, writer and doctor who lives in Brighton – coined the term “graphic medicine” in 2007 for the name of a website, www.graphicmedicine.org; it means “the intersection of the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare.” This year’s conference aimed to establish a graphic medicine community here in Ireland. The three days were filled with opportunities promoting the benefits of collaboration, research, learning, and knowledge sharing.

Professor Keelin O’Donoghue, Dr Brendan Fitzgerald and Marita Hennessy at the Graphic Medicine Conference. Photo credit: Nathan Cafolla, TUS Athlone

We were grateful for the opportunity to host an exhibition of ‘Why my baby died’ – a collaboration between the Pregnancy Loss Research Group and Amy Lauren, illustrator, throughout the event. This graphic narrative, based on research led by Dr Änne Helps, provides important, actionable insights – to clinicians, policymakers and other knowledge users – into what is needed to meaningfully involve bereaved parents in perinatal death review processes. Marita Hennessy also presented on the process of creating and disseminating this graphic narrative during a parallel session on the second day of the conference. ‘Why my baby died’ was funded through an Irish Hospice Foundation Seeds Grant, supported by Creative Ireland.

Marita Hennessy presenting on the graphic narrative ‘Why my baby died’ at Graphic Medicine 2024

Marita Hennessy sharing work undertaken to illustrate the realities of miscarriage at Graphic Medicine 2024

During a second parallel session on day two, Marita also shared work undertaken by the team, in collaboration with Amy Lauren, to illustrate the realities of miscarriage as part of the Health Research Board-funded RE:CURRENT Knowledge Translation Award. These stand-alone illustrations are being used to enhance public awareness of the experience and impacts of miscarriage, training/education of healthcare staff, and advocacy activities. They focus on a range of issues, including communication around miscarriage; shattered dreams on losing a pregnancy; men’s experiences of miscarriage and trying to keep it all together; the unexpected physical experience of miscarriage; inappropriate shared spaces. We are using the illustrations in a variety of ways–as part of national information booklets on miscarriage and recurrent miscarriage, and to support dissemination activities via websites, social media, presentations, policy briefs, and other media.

During the conference closing session Marita participated in a panel discussion of themes arising from the conference.

Marita Hennessy participating in a thematic discussion during the conference closing session. Panel discussion chaired by Jane Burns. Panel members (L-R): Niall Seery, Stefano Ratti, Marita Hennessy, Matthew Noe

There was incredible coverage of the conference across various media outlets, both in the lead-up and during the event itself. Gail Conway, Midlands Correspondent, covered the event, which featured on RTÉ News: Six One on 17 July. A full-length feature titled ‘Where comic books meet healthcare: ‘We recognise that we need to communicate in different ways’’ was published in the Irish Times on 25 June. Journalist Sheila Wayman interviewed Dr Ian Williams, MK Czerwiec (Comic Nurse) – a nurse, cartoonist and educator in Chicago, and Jane Burns, the chair of the organising committee for the conference and Director of Education and Public Engagement at the Faculty of Engineering and Informatics at the Technological University of the Shannon. The event was also covered by the Westmeath Independent.

The Graphic Medicine International Collective (GMIC)’s mission is to guide and support the use of comics in health. The first graphic medicine conference was held in London in 2010. Since then, an annual conference has been a hallmark of this field. Practitioners of graphic medicine come together from many places and positionings to teach and learn about this rich area of creative work and study. Over 200 people from 25 countries participated in this year’s conference online and in-person. While the GMIC has decided to pause its annual conference until 2026, when it will be hosted in Baltimore, US – an online event will be held in October 2024. More details to follow! In the meantime, check out ideas of how to get involved in the graphic medicine community.

The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Draíocht’ (magic) and it certainly was magical – in terms of content, community and collaboration. A massive thank-you to Jane Burns and all involved for bringing the magic of both graphic medicine and the graphic medicine community to our shores and for their ongoing support of our work at the Pregnancy Loss Research Group. We look forward to furthering both our own work in this area, as well as efforts to establish a graphic medicine community in Ireland.

Details of PLRG presentations at GraphMed2024