Symbols in everyday life with Leah Lebowicz: Are emojis saying more than we realize?

Grace Khachaturian  00:00 

Welcome to “This is UIC,” the official podcast of the University of Illinois, Chicago. I’m Grace Khachaturian, and with each episode, we delve into the stories that drive us to impact our most compelling questions as Chicago’s only public research university. UIC is leading the way to create and inspire a better world.

Today, we’re speaking with Leah Lebowicz, a trailblazer, artist and leader. She’s the program director of biomedical visualization at UIC, as well as an associate professor. But more than anything, she’s a difference maker, one who saw a need and has pursued a career to meet that need with her skill set and her passion.

I’m confident you’ll be as inspired by her as I have been.

Welcome Leah. 

Leah Lebowicz  00:46 

Thank you so much. I’m really excited to be here to be able to talk with you today. 

Grace Khachaturian  00:51 

Likewise, I think this will be such an interesting conversation as we unpack a curiosity that I think many have our emoji saying more than we realize. But before we unpack this curiosity, Leah, I would love to put your story in context. Tell us a little bit about your why, what personal experiences or stories in your life have inspired the work that you’re doing now.  

Leah Lebowicz  01:14 

Yeah, absolutely, I’d love to tell you a little bit more about that. It really starts from when I was a really little child. Actually, I have always loved to draw, and in high school I had a high school biology teacher who was like, you should do medical illustration. So, I was already trying to combine the two without actually knowing that that existed, and there was a place for that. So, it was a lot of fine art stuff I was doing but also drawing the human figure I really enjoyed. And so, when I found out that I could combine those interests, it was really exciting to me.

So, I remember, I went home, I Googled it, and I found the Association of Medical Illustrators, and was like, yes, this is what I have to do. I can use my art and my love for anatomy and science and really like empower and educate people and use those skills to be able to make things that are a little scary for people, not as scary. It’s hard to kind of understand what goes on in our body and sometimes having visuals that kind of help make that clear can really help empower and just take away some of those fears.

So, I went to undergrad. I went to the University of Texas at Austin. I was premed as well as a studio art major, so I could make sure to get the science requirements that I needed. Then I came to UIC for their biomedical visualization graduate program for grad school, and I’ve been here since. So, I graduated in 2012 and the opportunity to teach was offered to me, and I was really excited to be able to take a part of that while I was in undergrad, though, too, I was able to intern at a company called Wilson Medical Communications in Houston. I went there during my summer and winter breaks, and that was a fantastic experience of just working a lot. They did a lot of patient education.

And again, going back to that, how can I use my art to really empower somebody and to teach someone what’s going on, kind of in their bodies? And so, I use a lot of that inspiration going through graduate school and then stayed at UIC. A few years after being here, I realized, you know, what if I’m going to be in academia long term, I really would like to better meet the needs of my students. So, I actually went back to school, and I got my Doctorate of Education from Capella University. Adult education to really understand, you know, how can I be understanding how to develop curriculum in appropriate ways and really meet the needs of our students? And I was able to develop a wellness program as part of that, because I’ve really become very passionate about mental health and understanding how to support our students that way too.

So that’s why I’m here, being able to use my visuals and, you know, my artistic talent in a way that can really help people and not lose sight of that, which is really fun. 

Grace Khachaturian  03:43 

It’s amazing how one thing has led to the next so clearly. But it also speaks to the power a teacher can have over a student’s life. It’s so neat that you are now in that teacher role. For those who don’t know, can you tell us what is biomedical visualization? And where would someone encounter this kind of work? 

Leah Lebowicz  03:59 

Biomedical visualization, which can also be known as medical illustration, is an interdisciplinary field that combines science, medicine, communication and advanced visual technologies to help translate complex biological and medical concepts into compelling and accurate visuals. The field of biomedical visualization is really at the forefront of visualizing scientific discovery and helping to bridge the gap between complex data and public understanding of that same complex health information.

It makes me think back again to blaze and medical communications like a lot of the work we were doing there. I felt really excited to be part of just seeing the impact, of just taking a really complex diagnosis, like a cancer diagnosis, right? And breaking it down to what is going on in your body, and how can I visualize this, and how can I show you what’s going on, and then how can we work to resolve this, what is, kind of the steps in that? So, I always remember that kind of really speaking to me like, oh, I see the impact of it.

But then also, I would say, just seeing the impact on my students, even. Just being able to teach them and work with them and see where they take ideas has been so inspiring to me. There’s always new solutions that they’re coming up to for different problems, and they take it with such care. And I’ve seen, you know, different things, especially the research projects our students have worked on, really make an impact on family members, on patients, but also kind of in training residents and medical students, even here at UIC. So that’s been really exciting to be part of as well. 

Grace Khachaturian  05:28 

With these examples in mind, can you share a little bit more when visualizing something? What goes through your mind? Are you thinking of everyday symbols, and how do you make something you feel confident will be understood?  

Leah Lebowicz  05:40 

That’s something we’re always kind of looking at, understanding what exists, what is needed. Where are there gaps in knowledge? Where are there gaps and kind of understanding? How can we help bridge those gaps, and what visuals can help do that? And I think as technology continues to change and grow, those will only be tools that we can kind of continue to use to help that as well. It’s so important in our field, too, and we’re always looking at, how do we make sure we’re being accurate and what we’re representing and that we’re not potentially creating opportunities for someone to have a misunderstanding of something? It’s so important with health information, especially. And so those are things that we have to really consider.

We do look at the psychology of how people learn and how they think, and how are, how is someone going to approach any of our visuals? Because it can have damage if it’s not done well or well thought. And so, it comes down to storytelling. How do you do that, right? How do you get someone to engage with what you’re trying to tell them? Sometimes we’re asked to make lifestyle, you know, changes in a person. Look at this and stop smoking, for example. How do you get someone to do that? And it really is through that storytelling connection of empowering someone, through understanding, okay, how do I relate to this? How does this affect my life? Can I see myself in these visuals?

So, it’s more than just creating a pretty picture. There’s a lot that goes into what we do in terms of not just making sure something is beautiful and accurate, but also really appropriate to the audience we’re trying to meet. 

Grace Khachaturian  07:07 

Why is storytelling so important in the medical field? 

Leah Lebowicz  07:11 

Yeah, absolutely. I think it also really kind of talks to why our field is so different, like what we do, and at the heart of it, we’re storytellers, right? We’re understanding who is the audience that we’re trying to reach, and how do we best kind of tell that story to them? For example, I could ask you to create an illustration for a physician or a patient, and those two audiences are going to need really different things. They’re both going to come with different prior knowledge, different needs, and different fears. And so how do we kind of tailor make what we’re creating in our visuals to best represent those audiences and make people feel seen in the visuals that we create too and empowered by them.  

Grace Khachaturian  07:52 

It’s pretty cool the impact that visuals can have now. What role do symbols have when it comes to storytelling? 

Leah Lebowicz  07:59 

Yeah, I think it kind of shows that we have a tendency to prioritize emotional recognition over just literal accuracy of something, right. It kind of reflects this bigger thing in human cognition, where we like to simplify and abstract things, to make them a little bit more relatable and memorable to us as well. I think it speaks a little bit to just symbolism in general, right? And kind of how do those symbols change and adapt over time? And how can we leverage that? And I think it’s kind of fluid, honestly, it changes, I think, with culture and even technological changes as well. And so, I think it’s always having to understand that what we’re creating doesn’t have to be literal, right? So, we need stuff that’s going to resonate emotionally with somebody. And so how can we use prior learning, prior experiences, understanding, and kind of use that when we’re trying to create meaning on an object or an icon or a symbol that we produce? 

Grace Khachaturian  08:53 

Okay, I want to dive into that when we think of symbolism, even in a broader sense. You might think of like the light bulb as an idea. And we’ve talked about how the heart has kind of garnered this universal understanding of what it represents. But how do these things garner such a universal understanding? 

Leah Lebowicz  09:10 

Yeah, I think the light bulb is a great example, right? It doesn’t just mean illumination. It actually represents like someone having an idea. I think another one, another couple that comes to mind is like the broken heart even, right? It’s conveying emotional pain, and not just something that’s been damaged physically as well as I kind of like the floppy disc icon that we see all the time now, that represents save even though most people are not using floppy discs anymore. So, it’s kind of funny how we attach meaning to things. But I think it really kind of shows that once things are used in a really repetitive way and it means very similar things to many people, its kind of just sticks, and it’s able to convey so much thoughts and emotions with just this one little symbol and visual. 

Grace Khachaturian  09:54 

Let’s talk more about the symbolism we use in our daily lives. Do you think that emojis are saying more than we realize? 

Leah Lebowicz  10:03 

I think, absolutely, actually understanding someone’s previous background and experiences, I think, is something that we can’t always understand about each person, right? We can have ideas of different groups of people and different feelings they may have or experiences they may have, but we can never really identify that per person, right? So, when you’re sending your text to your friend or your family member and you’re picking the emoji out, I think there always is that, okay, am I truly representing the emotions that I’m feeling in this moment? And are they going to get that? Are they going to understand that symbol that I’m trying to really, you know, convey? And so, I think we do need to think about a lot of what am I choosing? Why am I choosing this? And how is someone else going to read that?

I think it’s a good conversation that we should probably have in our heads, because it’s really easy to just like, click them off and all of a sudden and send it off. I’m definitely one of those people that’s continuously scrolling to find the right one. And I think there’s always new emojis that are coming out to kind of bridge the gaps of what exists right now. And so, I it’s exciting to kind of see as technology changes and more needs kind of in our society change, that there may be even more symbols and emojis that end up being generated just to continue to fill those needs of, hey, I want to say this, but how do I say that? And how do I make sure it’s really clear and what I’m trying to say? 

Grace Khachaturian  11:22 

And gifs or gifs or memes or however you want to say it, but those bring these up to like, a whole new level of communication. I mean, we are literally taking something out of context and putting it in our situation to hope that it best represents what we’re trying to say over text. 

Leah Lebowicz  11:37 

Absolutely. Yeah, I think it’s just so cool to reflect on how powerful visuals can be. You know, they really just go beyond language, and it’s a way that everybody can connect. Sometimes there’s a misconnection, right, as we’re kind of talking about, but if you send something that someone doesn’t respond to the way you think they’re going to, but you’re connecting with somebody still, right? And so, I think it’s really cool to reflect on visuals really have a big you know, they have a lot of power in our culture and our society, and what does that look like? How can we influence that? How can we use that? It’s pretty kind of a fun thing to think about. 

Grace Khachaturian  12:10 

 Leia it’s been a joy to hear snippets of your story, the ups and downs and how your passion for art, science and impact really have merged into this career path that you’re on now. It is amazing how visuals, even like emojis, can be such an impactful part of storytelling.

We like to end each episode on a fun note, music. If you were to pick a song that best represents your story, what song would you pick?  

Leah Lebowicz  12:37 

Absolutely. It’s a really hard question, but I think I would pick “Try Everything” from “Zootopia.”

[MUSIC: “Try Everything”]

I think it kind of talks to a lot of what I have always felt in my personal journey, which is I don’t always know the answer to something, but I’m always willing to try and ask for help and just try.

Actually, once I got into graduate school here at UIC and I got into anatomy, that was one of the first classes we were taking our first semester here, gross human anatomy with cadaver dissection, actually failed the first anatomy exam, like hardcore, failed it. I remember thinking to myself, I shouldn’t be a medical illustrator. This isn’t my career path. This is not where I’m supposed to be. And I had to really talk to myself and, you know, talk to my support systems and realize, like, you know, everybody fails, that’s okay. You’re really more defined by what you do afterwards than those little failures.

If I look back to myself when I failed that first anatomy exam, if I had told her, like, you know what, just keep going this, you’ll be here still after it, I’d be like, no, there’s no way I’m meant to completely have a different career path. So, I’m glad I stuck with it, but I’m also very, you know, thankful to all the mentors that I’ve had along the way that helped me kind of get to where I am today. 

Grace Khachaturian  13:58 

Try everything. I love that that is a great mantra and song to carry with you. Leah, thank you so much. 

Leah Lebowicz  14:04 

 Thank you so much. It’s been great talking with you. 

Grace Khachaturian  14:07 

To find out more about Leah and the biomedical visualization program at UIC visit the show notes for this episode at today.uic.edu.

[MUSIC: “Try Everything”]

Thanks for listening to This is UIC, the official podcast of the University of Illinois, Chicago, Chicago’s only public research university.

Until next time. Visit today.uic.edu to uncover how UIC is inspiring a better world.