Glen Oomen Illustration
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Medical & Scientific Illustration

Specialized medical and scientific illustration

Featured Illustration

This series of images describes the pathology and histology associated with PSCAD, or Pregnancy-related Spontaneous Coronary Artery Disease. The illustrations combined current data about histological changes to the arterial wall with broader, more typical features associated with atherosclerotic plaque development to create compact, detailed and very effective figures. These images were originally used for publication.

Image copyright 2014, Glen Oomen & Dr. Jacqueline Saw, Vancouver General Hospital / University of British Columbia

Image copyright 2014, Glen Oomen & Dr. Jacqueline Saw, Vancouver General Hospital / University of British Columbia

Image copyright 2014, Glen Oomen & Dr. Jacqueline Saw, Vancouver General Hospital / University of British Columbia

Image copyright 2014, Glen Oomen & Dr. Jacqueline Saw, Vancouver General Hospital / University of British Columbia

Image copyright 2014, Glen Oomen & Dr. Jacqueline Saw, Vancouver General Hospital / University of British Columbia

Image copyright 2014, Glen Oomen & Dr. Jacqueline Saw, Vancouver General Hospital / University of British Columbia

Featured
Transventricular Access
Transventricular Access

This neurosurgical image describes the burr hole placement and an endoscopic approach angle for accessing 3rd ventricle tumors and lesions. In this image, there is pineal tumor on the supero-posterior wall of the 3rd ventricle, but the approach also enables access to mammillary bodies.

Optic Nerve Sonography
Optic Nerve Sonography

Illustration demonstrating the visualization of the optic nerve sheath as a means of assessing intracranial pressure. In this procedure a slight dilation of the optic nerve sheath, an extension of the dura mater, is visualized and used as a fast, non-invasive means of assessing how much sub-dural or intracranial pressure is present.

Microneedle Arrays: Sensing and Delivery
Microneedle Arrays: Sensing and Delivery

Illustration describing how arrays of microneedles can be used for bio-sensing and drug delivery. The needles themselves can be vary in shape to serve as anchors within the skin, preventing removal, or be configured to slowly dissolve, releasing a drug as they do or physically releasing from the tissue after a prescribed period of time.

Tube Retractors in Neurosurgery
Tube Retractors in Neurosurgery

This is one image from a larger series describing a technique for using tube retractors and guidance systems to access deep brain lesions. This image shows one of the final steps in the sequence, placing a larger diameter tube.

Superior Hypophyseal Artery Complex
Superior Hypophyseal Artery Complex

Neurosurgical journal illustration showing endoscopic view of the Superior Hypophyseal Artery (SHA) complex in relation to other critical features and landmarks during transphenoidal access.

Ankle Sprain
Ankle Sprain

Illustration showing a classic ankle sprain and related ligaments.

General Sternum Anatomy
General Sternum Anatomy

Orthopedic journal illustration describing the general anatomy of the sternum and vascular considerations around midline sternotomy.

Midline fascia repair post sternotomy
Midline fascia repair post sternotomy

Illustration showing suturing of linea alba tendonous abdominal fascia, post midline sternotomy.

Sternal fixation: clamps
Sternal fixation: clamps

Existing clamp devices for fixing sterni post midline sternotomy.

Pressure testing neobladder
Pressure testing neobladder

Final image in sequence for urology journal article describing a technique for creating a neobladder from distal jejunum, showing the pressure testing of the final, constructed bladder.

Pulmonary Fibrosis
Pulmonary Fibrosis

Journal of Biological Chemistry cover showing pulmonary fibrosis.

46 Day Embryo
46 Day Embryo

Illustration showing a 46 day old human embryo and associated structures .

Doxirubicin Cardiotoxicity
Doxirubicin Cardiotoxicity

Journal of Biological Chemistry cover for study describing a gene deficiency that predisposed cancer patients to irreparable cardiac cell death when treated with doxirubicin. The authors, cardiac surgeons, advocated for genetic testing prior to chemotherapy to ensure the safe use of of the chemotherapuetic

Cerebroprotective technique
Cerebroprotective technique

This illustration is one of a series describing a technique for cerebral protection while repairing ascending aortic aneurysm with dacron graft. The series specifically shows the placement of extracorporeal line placement to maximize blood flow to the head and brain. 

Mitral valve prolapse repair
Mitral valve prolapse repair

This series of illustrations compares two different techniques for addressing mitral valve prolapse. In the top series, the prolapsing leaflet is resected. In the lower series artificial chordae are sutured in place, leaving a larger diameter final valve.

Bicuspid Aortic Valve
Bicuspid Aortic Valve

Illustration series done for New England Journal of Medicine article. This series relates different morphologies of Bicuspid Aortic Valve to the shear forces inflicted upon the aortic wall by their corresponding ejection fractions.

Ross Procedure: three variations
Ross Procedure: three variations

Surgical journal illustration showing three variations in aortic root replacement and repair.

Piggyback OPCABG
Piggyback OPCABG

One illustration from a large series describing different techniques for grafting small diameter vessels for coronary artery bypass. This image shows a piggyback graft and a Heartstring device being used.

Posterior Cutaneous Nerve
Posterior Cutaneous Nerve

Illustration showing the course of the posterior cutaneous nerve of the forearm and how it relates to lateral epicondylitis.

SGLT2 Inhibitor Myocardial effects
SGLT2 Inhibitor Myocardial effects

Sodium Glucose cotransporters are responsible for the resorption of sodium and glucose in the kidneys. SGLT2 Inhibitors thus decrease the resorption of both solutes, decreasing both blood glucose and sodium as they two are excreted. This allows the myocardium to recover both structurally and metabolically.

Project Workflow

These are some images showing the working process of a project and how it progresses. These are from a recent project completed for the University of Michigan, developing a fairly simple information pamphlet that would be distributed to potential practitioners, study recruiters and patients to educate them on a rarely discussed disease that primarily occurs in renal arteries. It’s not the most sophisticated or high tech of communication mediums, but it’s still possibly the most effective and cost effective: you can take it with you, it won’t run out of batteries, you don’t have to turn it on and you can still take notes on it - that’s paper. The real trick is in how you present the information. Even with the constraints of one piece of paper and a budget, creativity and skill can still produce something beautiful.

Featured
Initial Sketches
Initial Sketches

Everything begins with sketches. Sometimes, the rougher the better so that ideas don’t become too permanent too early. This rough sketch showed the general layout of information, what was text, what was image, and the overall balance background whitespace and figurative information.

Establishing the major elements
Establishing the major elements

Rough sketches also helped the team refine the generalized anatomy and pathology of the condition so that it could all be shown in one place, progressing from normal and healthy at the left to very pronounced and diseased at the right. Elements were drawn from previous work created for research colleagues that captured much of the shared histology and pathology.

Cover layout options
Cover layout options

This project had one major “hero” image, the cross section of progressing pathology that could be used by patients and practitioners to understand or explain the disease respectively. But it can’t do all the lifting, and the repetition can diminish its value. Since the disease occurs most often the renal arteries, and we hadn’t yet allotted some space to show and explain that, we decided to create a nice image of kidneys and aorta and diseased renal arteries for the cover to put the condition in situ.

Hero Artery
Hero Artery

The “hero” image gets completed while the rest of the text and image information is settled on. This image shows the disease from “normal” and healthy at the left to a section where there are ring-like regions with higher expression of vascular smooth muscle, creating strictures. Hemodynamically, these strictures predispose the artery to outpouching and aneurysm, particularly where the vessels branch and bifurcate. Lastly, the imbalance in tissue and hemodynamics created regions of endothelial dysruption and mural bleeding.

Outside Page and Cover
Outside Page and Cover

The outside of the brochure has just enough information to hook the viewer, but not enough to horrify them. Medicine is full of things that people don’t understand, so you need to by mindful of what information gets presented when in their journey. In this case, the kidneys are the front since this is really initially diagnosed or seen as a renal problem. Then the nuts and bolts and stuff that’s not so nice to look at (unless you’re a medical illustrator or physician who’s into this stuff) on the inside. This way, nobody is too embarrassed or disgusted to pick up information that’s really there to help them.

Inside Page
Inside Page

Then everything gets put together. It’s always satisfying to see each piece of the information - visual, text, even white space - all working as one to move the reader about the page in the right ways