Ranice Winifred Crosby

Crosby, a longtime medical illustrator and head of the Johns Hopkins department of Art as Applied to Medicine, was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. She attended the Connecticut College for Women, graduating in 1937 with a B.A.

Crosby took a job at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and began her studies in medical illustration under the department’s first director, Max Brödel. The two had corresponded throughout Crosby’s college career as she looked for guidance in the medical illustration profession. By 1943, Crosby was running the Art as Applied to Medicine Department. The medical school’s first female department head, Crosby directed the department for 40 years.

Crosby was a founding member of the Association of Medical Illustrators in 1945. In 1983, she stepped down as department head but continued to teach in the department for an additional 22 years. In 1984, Crosby received the American Urological Association’s William P. Didusch Art and History Award for outstanding contributions to urological illustration.

In 1986, alumni, faculty, and friends established The Ranice W. Crosby Distinguished Achievement Award medallion for scholarly contributions to the advancement of art as applied to the sciences. The medallion is presented at the School of Medicine Convocation to those who best exemplify her ideals. In 1987, Crosby was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association of Medical Illustrators and in 2002, she received an honorary doctorate from The Johns Hopkins University.