Eleanor Milman

Ever since I can remember, I have been infatuated with both drawing and science. In particular, I was always fascinated with the human mind and cognition, and I adored illustrating people in humorous ways. It was not until the third year of my undergraduate degree in Psychology, though, that I serendipitously discovered the field of medical illustration. In preparation for graduate school at UIC, I did editorial illustrations and cartoons for campus publications and took a plethora of art and science courses. These pursuits brought me from Montreal to Vancouver to Austin, and now Chicago where I am thrilled to be pursuing my dream among some of the most talented and hardworking people I will ever meet.

Currently, I am in my second semester of coursework and will be learning how to animate, make 3D models, and illustrate in 2D. I will soon be starting my research project in Paleoanthropology, in which I will be segmenting and modeling part of an exciting infant fossil specimen from the species Austrolopithecus afarensis.

After graduation, I hope to do work that helps people communicate more effectively about medical issues, especially for populations with psychiatric disorders or developmental disabilities. These areas of medicine are more difficult to visualize than others and are also subject to a higher level of stigma. My goal is to produce work that will reduce this stigma by making complex medical and neurological information more approachable and accessible for those who need it.