Southwestern Alumni Combine Passions for Art and Science as Professional Medical Illustrators
Jenna Foster ’12 and Lauren Muskara ’21 have embraced Southwestern’s Paideia philosophy in their professional careers, blending their skills in art and science as medical illustrators.
After graduating from Southwestern University nearly a decade apart, Jenna Foster ’12 and Lauren Muskara ’21 have each forged their own path to become professional medical illustrators, helping bring to life the complex topics that train the next generation of healthcare professionals.
At the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Foster creates 2D illustrations and animations and 3D models and prints that students use every day on their way to becoming veterinary health professionals.
“One of my favorite things about this career, and particularly the role I’m in now, is that I get to do a really wide variety of projects, both in terms of subject matter and visual style,” Foster said. “My work consists of a lot of what you might think of as traditional 2D illustrations that you see in a textbook. But by and large, with how much education is moving toward interactivity and animation, that’s a lot of what my role consists of today.”
Courtesy Jenna FosterFoster is one of seven medical illustrators that creates 2D and 3D educational resources within UGA’s College of Veterinary Medicine, a rarity in higher education.
“At a lot of veterinary schools, it’s unusual to have such a large team of medical illustrators working together to produce original curriculum support,” she said. “One of the cool things about what we do is that no two days look the same. In order to enjoy this type of career, you have to be someone who enjoys problem solving. A big part of the job is always keeping up with the latest tech, science, and techniques.”
While she has thrived in her role, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that Foster would end up in this unique career field. Originally from McGregor, Texas, about an hour north of Southwestern’s campus, Foster graduated with a bachelor of arts in painting with double minors in art history and feminist studies.
After graduating from SU, she originally entered the commercial printing and advertising industry, serving in a variety of creative roles, from production artist to photographer, for about six years. During this time, she was introduced to the Capital Area Master Naturalists, an Austin-based volunteer program that aims to provide education, outreach, and service to better manage the natural resources and areas that Central Texas has to offer. There, Foster’s passion for science began to develop.
“It was through that program that I first rubbed elbows with scientists and realized that there was a real need for science communicators, especially visual science communicators,” Foster said. “I could actually start to see a path for myself to do some really fulfilling work.”
As she began mulling over the idea of attending graduate school in early 2020, a major global event exposed her to the world of medical illustration and confirmed her desire to enter the field: the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are only 10 accredited graduate programs for medical illustration in the world – five in North America and another five in Europe. In researching which program would be the best fit for her, Foster landed on the University of Dundee in Scotland. The one-year graduate program has a proven track record of producing some of the top medical illustrators in the world.
“Scotland really stood out to me as a great choice because I knew someone who had graduated from the program and was a successful medical illustrator, and she spoke very highly of it,” Foster said. “I had passed up the opportunity to study abroad when I was at Southwestern, and I always regretted it. This was the perfect opportunity to participate in a program abroad.”
At the same time, nearly 5,000 miles away in Georgetown, Muskara had just finished her undergraduate studies at Southwestern and was preparing to embark upon her own foray into medical illustration. The Plano, Texas native graduated from SU with dual degrees, a bachelor of science in biology and bachelor of arts in studio art, with a minor in health studies. It was during her time at Southwestern that Muskara knew she wanted to combine her passions for art and science into a career.
“I came to Southwestern loving art and loving science, and trying to figure out what to do with that,” Muskara said. “I came in as a biology major and was thinking I might minor in art. I didn’t take my first art class at Southwestern until my second semester. My first semester in the fall was the first time in my life that I wasn’t taking an art class. It was a bit of a shock and I realized that I can’t live without it.”
Courtesy Lauren MuskaraOne of her art professors, former Southwestern Gallery Coordinator and Studio Technician Kristen Van Patten, convinced Muskara to switch her major to art. Feeling a similar void for continuing her science studies, Muskara turned to her academic advisor, Professor of Biology Romi Burks.
“I learned that technically, I can major in whatever I want and still go to medical school, as long as I have the correct pre-reqs,” Muskara said. “I knew I wanted to go to medical school, but not necessarily take on all of the additional coursework to get the traditional undergraduate degree first.”
After continuing to pursue an art major while taking science courses on the side, including Organic Chemistry II as an elective, Muskara realized that she had built up enough credit hours in both programs to pursue a dual degree, something that wouldn’t have been possible without faculty support from both the Art and Biology Departments.
“Even though I didn’t know I was going to pursue art and science at the time, one of the reasons that I chose Southwestern is because I knew it had the capability to support me as an individual,” Muskara said. “Between the actual opportunities that Southwestern offers and the faculty members willing to encourage interdisciplinary thought, it felt good.”
It was through one of those professors that Muskara and Foster first became linked. The late Professor of Art and Chair of the Studio Art Department Star Varner taught both Muskara and Foster, nearly a decade apart.
“I had reached out to Star Varner to ask for a letter of recommendation when I decided to apply to grad school,” Foster said. “She wrote me a fantastic letter and helped me embark on that path. When I reached out to her, she mentioned that it was so cool because she hadn’t had a lot of graduates go on to do medical illustration, but that I was the second one in a year. She connected me to Lauren and I was so excited to find out about her.”
In fact, Foster credits her decision to attend Southwestern at all to Varner.
“It was 100% meeting Star Varner,” she recalled. “When I came to tour the University, she met with me one-on-one and did a portfolio review. I just felt like I could see myself studying under her and that Southwestern would be just the environment that I needed to grow my art and continue my academic journey. I felt a sense of belonging when I had my first tour and met with Professor Varner.”
Varner had a similar impact on Muskara’s trajectory.
“Professors at Southwestern, in the way they act and the way they develop their curriculum, show how the value of intersectionality can shine.” – Lauren Muskara ’21
“The academic grid, unfortunately, does not overlap well between STEM courses and arts courses,” she said. “I remember talking to Dr. Varner, and she had a few other art and science students as well. She was a big advocate for certain classes not overlapping with other lab times. The professors actually wanted us to achieve this, they weren’t just saying it. Professors at Southwestern, in the way they act and the way they develop their curriculum, show how the value of intersectionality can shine.”
After graduating from Southwestern, Muskara earned her master of science in biomedical visualization from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Applied Health Sciences, one of North America’s five medical illustration graduate programs. In February, she began her career as an Instructional Designer at the American College of Surgeons (ACS). In her role, Muskara works alongside fellow instructional designers, surgeons, and nurses to develop the training that healthcare administrators need to provide accreditation to hospitals.
“I like to say it’s the intersection of design, medical education, and accessibility,” she said. “I strive to make medical education more accessible, more engaging, more interactive, and more diverse. I looked at medical education and said, ‘How can we improve this, in all regards?’ If you’re creating content that is not accessible, how are you creating effective learning?”
Courtesy Lauren MuskaraOutside of her work at ACS, she is the owner of Muskara Visuals, LLC, a company that she started to advance her artistic career, provide mentoring to others in the industry, and conduct research into enhancing the accessibility of healthcare. Outside of her day job, Muskara’s art also heavily features scientific concepts and principles, but often in a more minimalist style.
“In my own art practice, I like to isolate topics that really stand out to me,” she said. “One thing that I like about the freedom is that there’s science everywhere. If something’s not working out artistically for a piece, I can just scoot over to another science topic. I have constant inspiration. Medical illustrators require precision and accuracy, whereas more abstract, minimalist pieces don’t necessarily need that. My LLC is a good way for me to explore those concepts, both from a science perspective to learn more about the topics, and from an art perspective to become a stronger painter.”
Muskara is also conducting research on her own to examine the intersection of anaplastology and gender-affirming care. She has applied for grant funding and is in the process of developing an inclusive, online course for certified mastectomy fitters and anaplastologists to enhance their care for the LGBTQ+ population.
“Historically, the LGBTQ+ populations have not been well-served by the healthcare system and by healthcare providers,” Muskara said. “There’s an absence of resources to educate people on how to better care for these individuals that have different needs than a cisgender person. I saw this gap, and I want to help fill it.”
Looking forward, Muskara is contemplating pursuing a Ph.D. with a focus on anaplastology, gender-affirming care, and instructional design ideology.
Back at the University of Georgia, Foster is nearing her second year in her role after being hired full-time following a graduate assistantship. Like Muskara, she credits intersectionality and the education that she received at Southwestern to her professional success.
“Intersectionality was really such an exciting thing to me when I was at Southwestern,” Foster said. “I think encouraging intersectionality and how to merge things together that might not necessarily feel like they pair well together is so important. Art and science have been just the perfect combination. Creating educational resources that help grow students’ understanding of scientific topics and perceptions of the natural world has been an incredibly rewarding career path, and I feel that I’m making a positive difference in the world with my art. I think I’ll be doing this for a very long time.”
Foster and Muskara had the opportunity to meet in person for the first time at the 2023 Association of Medical Illustrators Conference in Las Vegas.
“I feel that I’m making a positive difference in the world with my art. I think I’ll be doing this for a very long time.” – Jenna Foster ’12
“It was really great to connect. She is an amazing, amazing medical illustrator. She does some really great work,” Muskara said. “I think something that’s really interesting about both of us is that we went into the same field but are doing different things. I think there’s something beautiful about that.”
Between the similarities and differences in their careers and life paths, both Foster and Muskara credit their time at Southwestern for being able to perfectly blend all of their passions together into a uniquely fulfilling career.
“Above all, I think my time at SU cemented my love of lifelong learning,” Foster said. “In a more practical sense, my fine art degree provided me with a well-rounded foundation in the principles of art and design, as well as creative problem solving, skills that are really vital for a career in medical illustration.”
“One of the switches that happened in my head at Southwestern was getting rid of the idea that I can’t combine my passion for art and science into a career,” Muskara said. “If you are truly passionate about more than one topic, combine it. Just because it’s never been done before doesn’t mean that you can’t do it, it just means that you need to be the first to do it.”
