MDI Science Café — The Meeting of Art and Science: A Pathologist’s View

The summer MDI Science Café series will kick off June 26 with a talk on the interface between art and science by Cheryl M. Coffin, M.D., of Surry, Maine, an artist and professor emerita of pathology, microbiology and immunology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Coffin’s talk, entitled “The Meeting of Art and Science: A Pathologist’s View,” will be held at 5 p.m. at the Maine Center for Biomedical Innovation on the campus of the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor. The talk is the first in a series of six science cafés that will be held at the institution through mid-September.

She will discuss how art and pathology share similar, complementary processes of observation, cognition, practice and intuition.

Coffin has spent many years at the intersection of the worlds of art and science. During her medical career, she found that studio art tapped into a “common zone of creativity” that informed her writing and research. She believes her diagnostic skills have also been fostered by her interest in art history.

She is one of four-artists-in residence whose work will be the subject of the MDI Biological Laboratory’s 2017 Art Meets Science exhibit, which will go on display at the Maine Center for Biomedical Innovation in July.

For your convenience, you may preregister for this event.

MDI Science Cafés are offered in fulfillment of the MDI Biological Laboratory’s mission to promote scientific literacy and increase public engagement with science. The popular events offer a chance to hear directly from speakers about trends in science. Short presentations delivered in everyday language are followed by lively, informal discussion.