Dalena Huynh

Crossing barriers through visual communication

Illustrations

The following work showcases my ability to create biomedical illustrations that are representational of diverse demographics, clean and easy to read in composition.

Biologic Features of Extrachromosomal DNAs

Media: Adobe Illustrator
Purpose: The figure was created for the New England Journal of Medicine for the article on “Extrachromosomal DNA — Amping Up Cancer”
Link to the Article: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMcibr2415911

Craniosynostosis

Media: Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop and Illustrator)
Audience: Medical students or residents
Purpose: The illustration is a clinical comparison between some of the different types of craniosynostosis, a birth defect caused by the premature fusion of the cranial sutures before the brain could fully develop. The illustration shows a lateral view of the baby facing the left and a superior view of the skull. The illustration highlights the differences between the skull’s shapes in magenta and cyan as the normal skull as a reference. There is not much diversity when it comes to illustrated or photographic representation of babies with craniosynostosis, therefore a baby with a Latin American background was portrayed for the final illustration. 

Created 2022; revised 2023

Cricothyrotomy: Post-Incision

Media: Adobe Illustrator
Audience: Medical students or residents
Purpose: The purpose of this step-by-step procedural illustration is to show the different steps of cricothyrotomy post-incision. The content and reference for this illustration were collected by observing the cricothyrotomy procedure at the UIC Simulation and Integrative Learning Institute. The audience is medical students who are interested in becoming familiar with the steps post-incision for cricothyrotomy. The two-page procedural illustration does not include a supply list and instead highlights specific tools being used for each instructional step. The first step shows part of the trachea to show where the tracheotomy tube is being inserted while steps two through seven show a simplified illustration without the body placement for clarity and to focus on the tools being used in the instruction. The last step shows the tracheotomy tube secure on the patient’s neck with the BVM attached to the tracheotomy tube.

Level Up Your METs

Client: Cemal Ozemek, PhD and Hannah Ozemek, MS
Media: Adobe Illustrator
Audience: Physical therapy patients
Purpose: The purpose was to create an illustration for a printed poster on MET levels targeting physical therapy patients and to work with clients from the UIC Physical Therapy department. The clients wanted a visual that can better display the variety of activities that can be performed at each MET level than a graph or chart. The illustration shows a ribbon wrapping around to represent the different levels with different characters performing activities at that MET level. MET can be measured and be beneficial for anyone, so the characters are diverse in skin color and body shapes to connect with the audience who are diverse in their background.

Refusing Medical Intervention

Client: The American Journal of Bioethics
Media: Procreate and Adobe Photoshop
Audience: Academic audience with an interest in bioethics
Purpose: This editorial illustration cover was for the highlighted article, “Three Kinds of Decision-Making Capacity for Refusing Medical Intervention” (Navin et al.) that was published in the 2022 November edition of the American Journal of Bioethics. The article describes the different decision making capacities (DMC) a patient may possess depending on comparative evaluation, burden and goal. More information can be found on the AJOB website.

Navin MC, Brummett AL, Wasserman JA. Three Kinds of Decision-Making Capacity for Refusing Medical Interventions. Am J Bioeth. 2022 Nov;22(11):73-83. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2021.1941423. Epub 2021

Fragile Bud: Understanding Miscarriage

Media: Procreate and Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop and Illustrator)
Audience: General audience with interest, have experienced or impacted by miscarriage
Purpose: The goal was to represent flower buds as a symbol of miscarriage and to share information related to miscarriage in a landscape-formatted infographic. The infographic can be used for digital purposes or as a printed poster. Some important design decisions were related to how to make the audience relate to the poster by making the woman on the right hide part of her face to show her mourning for her loss and anonymity. Lastly, terminology was taken into consideration since most online information related to miscarriage usually identifies the person as a woman but has not yet been rephrased to be more inclusive or mention the partner of the pregnant person.

Total Mastectomy

Media: Procreate and Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop and Illustrator)
Audience: Academic audience
Purpose: The illustration is of a step-by-step surgical procedure of total mastectomy. The illustration can be used as a poster or a two-page feature in a journal publication.

Medical Legal Visualization

Media: Procreate, Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop and Illustrator)
Audience: Jury
Purpose: To create an illustration that emphasizes the patient’s injury for trial exhibits by using X-ray, CT scan and MRI imaging.

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