Class of 2026: Aspiring medical illustrator Zora Weir-Gertzog is drawn to art and science

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She was 17 and already thinking about graduate school.

So as Zora Weir-Gertzog contacted those dream schools, including Johns Hopkins and Augusta universities, about how her undergraduate studies could make her a strong candidate in the future, she asked a very specific question: "Do you have any additional education-based recommendations … for someone hoping to pursue a Master of Science in Medical Illustration at your school?"

Every institution included the same suggestion to the high-schooler: Check out Virginia Commonwealth University.

Now 22, Weir-Gertzog is receiving bachelor's degrees from VCU this spring in both biology (from the School of Life Sciences and Sustainability in the College of Humanities and Sciences) and in communication arts with a concentration in scientific illustration (through the School of the Arts).

"I was always really, really interested in doing scientific illustration," she said. "And that's actually the main reason I chose to come to VCU, because most schools, most art conservatories, are just a conservatory school. So all you have is art classes. But VCU was one of the few universities that had both a medical school and an art school attached. So I knew I wanted to go somewhere that had strong arts and strong sciences."

Weir-Gertzog grew up in Durham, North Carolina, where her parents homeschooled her in a science-heavy curriculum. At 15, she simultaneously studied at Durham Technical Community College, where she earned an associate degree in science. While her studies focused on science, she also took art lessons with local artists since she was 7.

"My family wanted me to get a well-rounded education," Weir-Gertzog said. "And I was really interested in that stuff. So they kept paying for me to go."

Zora Weir-Gertzog's interest in combining art and science has intensified during her time at VCU. (Dean Hoffmeyer, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

Her interest in combining art and science has intensified during her time at VCU.

"I've been able to actually experiment with it more, rather than just have it be a theoretical thing," she said.

Weir-Gertzog's focus on arts research took root in the Applied Arts Lab, a Vertically Integrated Projects program run by communication arts chair Jason Bennett and professor Sterling Hundley. Yet it's her biology courseload that has powered her independent project.

"One of the requirements for medical illustration graduate schools is a mammalian dissection course," Weir-Gertzog said, which at VCU is called comparative vertebrate anatomy. "And it's infamous for being really, really difficult. It's one of the hardest undergrad courses here, but it's a five-credit course with four hours of dissection a week."

Weir-Gertzog took the course, which utilizes illustrated dissection guides, last spring. But there weren't diagrams for all of the specimens the class was dissecting.

"There were just total systems, or diagrams that were inaccurate, or that we didn't have," she said. "So I started working with that professor, Gastón Jofre, Ph.D., for an independent study in fall 2025, to start illustrating some of those diagrams. And this semester, I've been working on this yearlong project re-illustrating a bunch of the diagrams for the anatomy class."

After Weir-Gertzog graduates this spring, the re-illustration project will continue with other students with whom she has collaborated. This semester, she led a group of about 10 students in the Applied Arts Lab on their own version of the project, which has additional resonance as the concentration in scientific illustration is no longer offered.

"It's been kind of like a test to see if people who haven't taken the class can actually illustrate materials for it, which has been really cool," she said. "I'm really happy this project will be continued beyond my graduation. … That was my most extensive research project from the past over a year. That felt like something that was directly helping people because I precepted the class this semester. So I was able to talk to students and update my diagrams and see how they were helping them for exams."

"Anatomy of the lamprey," digital painting, 2026; Commission for VCU School of Life Sciences & Sustainability's comparative vertebrate. anatomy lab (Contributed image)

Even with the demands of that project and her dual-degree courseload, Weir-Gertzog found time for more pursuits. She served as president of the Communication Arts Student Advisory Board, which organizes the Communication Arts Senior Expo - the department's biggest event that supports hundreds of tablers and attendees, and includes commissioning the alumni community for poster and merchandise designs. The board also brings curriculum or student concerns to the VCUarts faculty. In addition, she set up community collaborations, such as a live-figure-drawing session at the Richmond Ballet.

Among notable VCU institutions, VCU Health commissioned a few works from Weir-Gertzog, including liver paintings, comics explaining medical procedures to pediatric burn patients and a phoenix mascot for the Burn Center. And she set up projects between Rice Rivers Center, where she took a course last semester, and the Communication Arts department, which are now working together on a sturgeon tracker website.

Understandably, all of those commitments and accomplishments take a toll. Weir-Gertzog still has every intention of going to graduate school for her master's in medical illustration. At some point.

"I didn't immediately apply," she said. "I'm taking a gap year, so I don't explode!"