Elizabeth D. Auckley and Phillip L. (Phil) Anjum were third and fourth-year students in The Ohio State University College of Medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Elizabeth D. Auckley is from Bay Village, Ohio, and attended The Ohio State University for both her undergraduate and medical education. Her undergraduate majors were chemistry and history of art. In addition to her double major, she was a member of the varsity swim team. Elizabeth explained her seemingly different majors as complimentary because they both require analytical and detail- oriented thinking skills. She graduated from medical school in 2023 and went to the Medical College of Wisconsin for her residency. Phillip L. (Phil) Anjum graduated from the University of Michigan with his Bachelor of Science in biomolecular science in 2015 and his Master of Science in molecular and integrative physiology in 2017. He received his Doctor of Medicine from The Ohio State University College of Medicine in 2022. For his residency he is at the Emory University School of Medicine. Phil has a dual identity as a physician and a photographer and videographer. In September 2019 he founded Omega 3 Pictures, LLC to produce documentaries, informational videos, and creative pieces. In 2009 Linda C. Stone, MD established the Humanism in Medicine organization. There are a variety of committees and sub-groups for students studying to be physicians or other medical professionals to pursue hobbies like knitting, musical performance, painting, photography, poetry, and many others. The Ohio State University College of Medicine holds annual art shows to share their work. It was through this organization that Auckley and Anjum became acquainted, and he proposed that they work on a project together. Elizabeth took art classes in high school, but she did not expect to return to painting herself until later in life. The portraits in this collection were part of an exhibition titled Medical Students in the Wild displayed at the Urban Arts Space in Columbus, Ohio, April 26-May 7, 2022. Auckley and Anjum created these portraits to ‘showcase the human faces of future physicians.’ They wanted to show their classmates not studying to be doctors, but rather being themselves. The artists used a multimedia technique. He took portraits of medical students that were printed in black and white on canvas measuring 16 inches wide by 20 inches long. Elizabeth then thinned oil paint so that it was semi-translucent and painted color back into the photographs.
The Medical Student Portrait Collection (6 linear feet) is comprised of a portrait series of medical students by artists and fellow medical students Elizabeth D. Auckley and Phillip L. (Phil) Anjum accompanied by news coverage for their exhibition Behind the White Coat.
This collection is arranged in two series:
Series I: Digital Materials (2 PDF files) is comprised of news articles written about the Behind the White Coat exhibition. This series is arranged by item.
Series II: Portraits (3 boxes) contains 10 portraits by Elizabeth D. Auckley and Phillip (Phil) Anjum that depict their classmates at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. This series is arranged by item.
The collection is open to the public and is available for viewing in the Medical Heritage Center. Digital materials that are part of this collection are not available online. Physical materials do not circulate and must be used in the supervised reading room. Restrictions, including copyright, may exist and some materials may be too fragile to photocopy or digitize. The MHC charges for duplication services, which must be performed by staff.
[Identification of item], Medical Student Portrait Collection, SPEC.202420.MEDICALSTUDENT, Medical Heritage Center, Health Sciences Library, The Ohio State University.