Volume 8 • 2021 • Issue 2

“I do believe that art and science go hand in hand and can enrich each other,” says Dr. Bedos. From the Lab to the Drawing Board: The RSBOArtistic Residency As part of its new knowledge transfer platform, the Réseau de recherche en santé buccodentaire et osseuse du Québec (RSBO) launched an Art & Science project in 2020 featuring two Montreal-based cartoonists, Daniel Ha and Martin Patenaude-Monette. During this artistic residency, the two artists meet researchers from the RSBO and produce comic strips based on their field of study and oral health in general. The researchers featured in the comic strips come from the three largest Quebec universities: Laval University, McGill University and the University of Montreal. This science outreach projects aims to present and promote RSBO’s research to a wider audience. CDA Essentials talked to Daniel Ha and Martin Patenaude-Monette about this unique project. D rs. Christophe Bedos and Faleh Tamimi, co- directors of the RSBO, are exploring new ways of tackling the challenges of sharing research with the clinician community and the public. As part of this artistic residency, the research labs opened their doors to two talented cartoonists, each with their own graphic style, to illustrate (literally) the RSBO’s research projects, and to depict oral health issues through comics. Graphic narratives, such as comic strips, have emerged as a popular form of science education and communication. “I do believe that art and science go hand in hand and can enrich each other,” says Dr. Bedos. Daniel Ha and Martin Patenaude-Monette met 10 years ago while attending a comic workshop organized by the Canadian cartoonist, Jimmy Beaulieu. They were very Translation: Smile! We are drawing oral and bone health research. Illustration by Martin Patenaude-Monette excited to be brought together for this residency. For this project, they each work with different researchers and produce their own comic strips. “Our styles and methods are quite different, which makes our work complementary,” says Patenaude-Monette. “In my comic strips, I concentrate on the research project itself, with the researcher taking a secondary role. While Daniel, on the other hand, draws a portrait of the researcher.” Besides his artistic work with the RSBO, Ha practises general dentistry part-time. 27 Issue 2 | 2021 |