Alumni

This Arts & Sciences Alum Marries Art and Science, Every Day

Stories You May Like

For Big Red Nature Illustrators, Art and Science Overlap

Digital Artist Dreams His Creations in Pixels and Neurons

Artist Alum Has an Unusual Medium: Earth Itself

On the faculty at RIT, award-winning medical illustrator Jim Perkins ’84, BA ’85, creates visuals for top textbooks and more

By Melissa Newcomb

Threading a catheter into the pulmonary artery is a delicate process—one that’s important for many physicians to learn. As a medical illustrator, Jim Perkins ’84, BA ’85, combines his artistic talents and scientific knowledge to make the steps clear and comprehensible.

It’s one of thousands of his illustrations that appear in some 100 textbooks used around the world—helping students from undergrad onward understand biological processes, clinical concepts, anatomical structures, and more.

“I create visual media to communicate complex medical information,” explains Perkins, who produces artwork for books and scholarly articles across a variety of fields including anatomy, pathology, physiology, neuroscience, oncology, and histology. “It’s teaching and problem solving with pictures.”

A medical illustration depicting a pulmonary catheter inserted. — Perkins's illustration of a pulmonary catheter.

Perkins is the sole or main illustrator of several editions of top medical textbooks such as Netter's Atlas of Neuroscience, Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology, and Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease.

He’s also on the faculty at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he directs the MFA program in medical illustration; he’s a 1992 alum of the program, one of only five of its kind offered in North America.

Perkins has received some of his field’s top honors, including the British Medical Association’s Illustrated Book Award and the Association of Medical Illustrators’ Brödel Award for Excellence in Education.

Jim Perkins and a group of his students wear white lab coats, gloves, and face masks while inspecting a teaching skeleton. — Teaching anatomy at RIT.

“The most important objective is clarity, making sure an illustration effectively communicates the concept,” says Perkins, who creates his visuals using computer software after conducting research on the topic. “The other part is beauty. It has to be attractive—because an illustration isn’t very much good if nobody wants to look at it.”

It’s teaching and problem solving with pictures.

Although Perkins enjoyed childhood doodling and high school art classes, he never planned on a career as an illustrator.

While double majoring in biology and geology in Arts & Sciences, he developed an interest in vertebrate paleontology that led him to pursue a PhD in the field at the University of Rochester.

A medical illustration depicting the heart and ribs.

Stories You May Like

A medical illustration depicting exudative macular degeneration of the eye. — Perkins aims for his illustrations to be both instructive and visually appealing.

There, he snagged the last open seat in an anatomy class that had piqued his curiosity.

“It was the first time I was exposed to medical illustrations,” Perkins recalls. “And this was happening at the same time that I was having doubts about completing the PhD.”

He switched gears from his doctoral work, took some drawing classes, and was accepted into RIT’s medical illustration program.

It has to be attractive—because an illustration isn’t very much good if nobody wants to look at it.

“If you’re not happy doing what you’re doing, don’t be afraid to branch out,” he observes. “Don’t be afraid to jump at some new opportunity, even if it’s scary.”

Before joining the faculty at his graduate alma mater—where he also teaches classes on scientific visualization, surgical illustration, and anatomy—Perkins worked for an Atlanta-based company that creates courtroom exhibits for lawyers arguing cases involving medical malpractice, personal injury, and product liability.

Jim Perkins walks with other graduates in his gown during commencement. — Perkins at his Commencement ...

Jim Perkins as a student with his late wife Rosemary Finn '86. — ... and with his late wife, fellow alum Rosemary Finn '86.

Since they had to be understood by jurors with no medical or scientific background, he notes, the experience helped him learn to create visuals for different audiences—lessons that still serve him well today.

“My job is to ask what I can do to teach them,” he says of his viewers, “so everybody can learn.”

(All photos provided.)

Published October 27, 2025