Howard Bartner receives the Max Brödel Award for Excellence in Education in 2011
The Department of Art as Applied to Medicine is honored to remember the life and teaching of alumnus Howard Charles Bartner (1931 – 2018).
Howard began pursuing a future profession in art with a BFA from the Tyler School of Fine Art at Temple University in 1953, followed by a BS in Education from Temple in 1954. After graduating from Temple, Howard began teaching art in the Philadelphia School System. He also met with Medical Illustration program Director, Ranice Crosby. After review of his strong art portfolio, Ranice encouraged Howard to pursue the prerequisite sciences. Howard completed the science prerequisites and was admitted to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1955. He completed his Certificate in Medical Illustration in 1957.
Following his time at Hopkins, Howard began working at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda in 1958. Howard’s work impressed his colleagues from the start winning an award in 1959 from American Roentgen Ray Society. Doctors at NIH were so thrilled with the art Howard was creating that he was promoted to Chief of the Medical Illustration section at NIH in 1963 where he served until his retirement in 2000.
Fundus of the Eye © Howard Bartner
Meanwhile at Johns Hopkins, Ranice Crosby lead the change to elevate the program from a Certificate in Medical Illustration to a Master of Arts in Medical and Biological Illustration with the first students graduating with an MA in 1961. After the retirement of noted ophthalmological illustrator Annette Burgess, Ranice decided to offer Howard the opportunity to join the Hopkins faculty and teach Ophthalmological Illustration. With the support of his Director at the NIH, Howard began teaching in the MBI program in 1962.
While working at the NIH and teaching Ophthalmological Illustration at Johns Hopkins, Howard decided to return and re-enroll as a student in the new MBI graduate program. Howard completed his MA Degree in 1969 researching and writing his master’s thesis titled: Simulated Eye Models for Instruction in Indirect Ophthalmoscopy and Sclera Depression. His research was recognized by the members of the AMI with the Ralph Sweet Award at the 1969 AMI Meeting and was published in the journal Archives in Ophthalmology in 1971.
In 2000, after almost 40 years of teaching, Howard received the Ranice W. Crosby Distinguished Achievement Award for scholarly contributions to the advancement of the profession of Medical Illustration. The medallion inscription, determined by Ranice herself, reads “Ideal Medical Illustrator and Alumnus.”
Howard was an ideal educator. During his time as a teaching faculty at Johns Hopkins, 1962-2011, Howard taught Ophthalmological Illustration to over 200 students. In 2011, Howard was awarded the rank of Associate Professor Emeritus.
Also in 2011, the Association for Medical Illustrators honored Howard’s nearly 50 years of teaching in medical illustration with their top education award, the Max Brödel Award for Excellence in Education! Howard, surrounded by his students, received the award.
The students Howard Bartner taught over the years are now teaching others. Through his art and the memory of his kind gentle teaching, Howard’s legacy lives on in our alumni and in our faculty.
Howard Bartner receives the Max Brödel Excellence in Teaching Award at the 2011 AMI Meeting