With a self-designed bachelor of arts in biology graphics, Holoski also helped generate McDaniel’s medical illustration concentration, which teaches students to draw everything from hands to kidneys. She then earned a master’s in medical illustration from the University of Michigan. Her drawings help surgeons in a way that photos can’t: she can emphasize specific areas or functions by de-emphasizing unimportant or distracting aspects of her subject.

Designed to prepare students for graduate studies, the medical illustration concentration involves 36 hours of studio art, plus a number of biology, physiology, and chemistry courses. An internship is also required.

The illustration process truly blends art and science, and it involves knowing how to communicate critical information, according to Holoski. “It all comes down to trying to portray the beauty and awesome complexity of the body in a way that can be easily understood,” she says.

Holoski was first on staff at the pathology photography department at Johns Hopkins University, but now the self-starter is self-employed.