Gary P. Lees, Steps Down as Director, Department of Art as Applied to Medicine; Corinne Sandone to Serve as Interim Director

To school of medicine faculty and staff

Dear Colleagues,

I'm pleased to announce a couple of important role changes underway in the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine. This department is a very special asset to Johns Hopkins: It is home of one of only four accredited medical illustration graduate programs in North America.

First, Gary P. Lees, director of the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine, has stepped down after a remarkable 34 years leading the department. He will continue to serve as a full-time faculty member of the graduate program and to manage the extensive collection of medical illustration in the Max Brödel Archives.

A graduate of Tulane, the University of Houston and the University of Michigan, Mr. Lees arrived at Johns Hopkins in 1970 to serve as the illustrator for the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute and to teach in the master's program in medical and biological illustration. Mr. Lees' devotion to his students and faculty, dedication to advancing their education and careers, attention to detail, grace and good humor enabled him to guide his department smoothly through a period of revolutionary change in his field. This encompassed the transition of medical illustration from entirely hand-drawn and hand-delivered artwork to digitally produced and disseminated masterpieces. Mr. Lees presciently established and built programs that ensured the department's technology and curriculum remained in the vanguard of the field.

Please join me in thanking Mr. Lees for over four decades of service to Johns Hopkins.

Second, Corinne Sandone, M.A., C.M.I., stepped up and began serving as the interim director of the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine, effective February 1. Ms. Sandone, an internationally recognized medical illustrator and educator, has demonstrated leadership and excellence in program development in her 30 years at Johns Hopkins. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1982 and received her master of arts in medical and biological illustration from Johns Hopkins in 1986. She began her career illustrating a series of full color surgical atlases, co-authored with John Cameron, M.D., and has produced a prodigious body of surgical illustration over the past three decades. She joined the faculty in 1990 and was promoted to associate professor in 2007. In 2013, Ms. Sandone was appointed director of the graduate program. In 2015, she served as the president of the Association of Medical illustrators.

We are grateful to Ms. Sandone for her willingness to assume the responsibilities of the interim director. Since stepping into this role in February, she has done a remarkable job of leading with the same enthusiasm, vision, and advocacy she has demonstrated as graduate program director. We are confident she will continue to advance the mission of this unique department at Johns Hopkins in exciting ways, bringing her fresh ideas and respected expertise as interim director while a search for the new director is finalized.

Join me in congratulating both Mr. Lees and Ms. Sandone in these transitions.

Sincerely,

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine