Cynthia Turner, CMI

High-impact visual science problem solving requires not only technical understanding of the subject, but imagination, insight, aesthetics, scientific integrity, sophisticated design and a uniquely original viewpoint. Cynthia's work brings this together with her hallmark colorful and cinematic approach. Cynthia has worked with some of the most notable names in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry including, among others, Amgen, Pfizer, Merck, Wyeth, Astra Zeneca, Alexion, Varian, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, as well as medical communication agencies such as Regan Campbell Ward, Abelson Taylor, Saatchi & Saatchi HCG, McCann Torre Lazur, Sudler, Draft FCB, and Cline Davis & Mann. Hew work has garnered numerous industry awards and recognitions, and appears in the annual juried RxClub Show - Best in Medical Advertising and the annual salons of the Association of Medical Illustrators.

Cynthia is a certified medical illustrator and a Fellow of the Association of Medical Illustrators. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Colorado State University, 1979, and a Master of Arts in Biomedical Illustration from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, 1982.

Her work focuses on the visual needs of the pharmaceutical and biotech companies for their investor and advertising markets, including large scale illustrations for medical conference exhibitions and event and print collateral. She is known for creating striking visuals with clarity of message and a dramatic use of color. One of Cynthia’s specialties is her compassionate portraits portraying afflicted patients of all ethnicities with dignity and sensitivity. She recently completed the new illustrated FDA General Health Warning Labels on tobacco products, depicting African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Latinos and Caucasians with tobacco-related disease. Cynthia is the recipient of the Association of Medical Illustrators' 2014 Brödel Award for Excellence in Education “for outstanding educational contributions to the profession of medical illustration” and the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award for "extraordinary lifelong contributions to the advancements of medical illustration and scientific knowledge have set the highest standards of our profession and served as an inspiration to others in the field.”

Cynthia was the Artist-in-Residence for Varian Surgical Sciences for 4 years, producing several 3’ x 4’ limited edition prints for Varian’s Take a Closer Look campaign, highlighting their role in advancing radiation medicine for cancer treatment of previously inoperable early stage lung, breast, prostate, brain and liver cancers.

Cynthia’s work was selected for inclusion in the juried Art of Medicine exhibition, New York, NY and the juried Dream Anatomy exhibition at the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD. Johnson & Johnson honored her with a one-man show of The Medical Art of Cynthia Turner. She exhibited at the University de Andres Bello Art Gallery and the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, Chile and those works were later included in the permanent collection of the Universidad Andres Bello Medical School. Her work appears in Lürzer's International Archive of the 200 Best Digital Artists Worldwide 2020/2021 Biennial Edition, and the 2022/2023 Biennial Edition.

An interview in Muse by Clio, "Inside the Beautiful, Alien Worlds of Medical Illustrator Cynthia Turner" by Tim Nudd may be viewed here.

Cynthia's extended biography and complete listing of awards may be found here.

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