Graphic Medicine Ireland officially launches, bringing the comics-and-healthcare movement to Dublin

Graphic Medicine Ireland, the first dedicated Irish chapter of the international graphic medicine movement, held its official launch event on May 21, 2026, at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) Library in Dublin. The evening brought together an unlikely but fitting crowd — medical professionals, comics artists, historians, health librarians, disability advocates, researchers, and plain old comics fans — all under one roof to celebrate a field that lives at the intersection of sequential art and healthcare storytelling.

The term "graphic medicine" dates back to 2007, when comics scholar and physician Ian Williams coined it to describe the role comics can play in medical narrative, patient experience, and clinical communication. Williams attended the Dublin launch, alongside chapter founder Jane Burns and Dublin-based cartoonist Matthew Kelly, who each gave talks to the assembled crowd.

Burns, who chairs the newly established Irish chapter and serves as Director of Education & Public Engagement in the Faculty of Engineering at the Technological University of the Shannon, has been building toward this moment for a while. In a LinkedIn post announcing the launch, she called it "a particularly special milestone" for her, tracing the idea back to the success of the 2024 Athlone conference and her desire to connect people across the arts, healthcare, education, and lived experience through comics.

"That dream has become a reality," she wrote, crediting the wider international graphic medicine community's encouragement and expertise with helping make the chapter possible.

As of this summer, that dream now has a full committee behind it, and it's deliberately interdisciplinary. Alongside Burns, the roster includes librarian and design specialist Clare Conneally as Website Officer; systems librarian Niamh O'Brien, credited with curating the dotMD online exhibition; Dr. Bridget Murray of RCSI representing medical and nursing education; animator AmberAmelia Kelly handling academic outreach; Marie O'Neill of IADT as Research Officer; and public health researcher Autumn Brown, PhD, filling the delightfully specific role of Zine Specialist.

"I am excited to help build a vibrant, inclusive community where people can explore how comics can deepen understanding, spark dialogue, support learning, and share experiences that might otherwise go unheard," Burns added on LinkedIn. "We are looking ahead to the next stage of our journey, and we'd love you to be part of it [...] Whether your background is in healthcare, education, research, the arts, comics, or advocacy, there is a place for you in our growing community. We are building a collaborative, supportive, and creative chapter, and we welcome people with a range of experiences and perspectives."

Graphic Medicine Ireland now joins the wider network under the Graphic Medicine International Collective, the field's founding body, linking Dublin to sister chapters and communities worldwide.

Those interested in joining Graphic Medicine Ireland can register interest through the chapter's LinkedIn page or the contact form on graphicmedicineireland.com.

Source: LinkedIn