"I cannot count how many times I questioned what I was doing....is there anything more irrelevant to medicine than art?"

This sand animation, and Shelly Xie's work at the juncture of art and science, explores new depths at the uneasy interface between the two. When asked in school if she identified with the 'techies' or the 'fuzzies', Shelly could never say one way or the other...and always wondered if she had to.

Shelly Xie is an artist and recent graduate from the biology department at Stanford University. As a student researcher in the lab of Dr. Michael Hsieh, Shelly became interested in combining art and science to share the deeper story about schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis, caused by parasites in local water sources, is a neglected disease that rivals malaria in socio-economic impact and prevalence.

As an early participant in Stanford's Senior Reflection program, Shelly's creative work, sand animation, tells the story and life cycle of schistosomiasis infection in Ghana. This beautiful narration, done by Ruthie Arbeiter, is accompanied by the music of Michiru Oshima and Patrick Doyle.

Shelly is currently studying medicine, hoping to positively impact human health by creating new, innovative interfaces between clinical medicine, research and art.

To learn more about Schistosoma haematobium go to http://uti.stanford.edu. To learn more about the Senior Reflection Program at Stanford, see http://www.stanford.edu/~suemcc/TSR/.

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