David Bolinsky
David Bolinsky is a former lead medical illustrator at Yale. He is a co-founder of XVIVO, which produced the movie The Inner Life of the Cell for Harvard's Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Early life and education
Bolinsky's father, Joseph, was a sculptor and professor of art who taught at University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. His mother, Ruth, was a soprano with the New York City Opera, and both exposed Bolinsky to the world of visual and performing arts. His father began to teach him about flip book animations, drawing, painting, sculpting and pottery.When Bolinsky turned 14, his biology teacher encouraged him to pursue drawing. After meeting Frank Netter, Bolinsky was inspired to get his M.D. and create animations for medical work instead of solely still life. In 1968, Netter presented him with the book The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and this book gave Bolinsky the idea to do computer animations someday.
Bolinsky completed his 4 years of undergraduate studies from 1976 to 1980 at Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in medical illustration and a masters in anatomy.
Bolinsky began a new job at Michigan State University, where he had committed to attend Michigan State University College of Human Medicine quite soon after in 1977. He worked with dual faculty instructors in Human Medicine and Veterinarian Medicine, creating surgical illustrations for both subjects. His time with the Dean of Schools became impactful as he was encouraged to work at the biomedical center. Before entering Medical School, the biomedical center was closed by a newly hired Dean of school. Nonetheless, Bolinsky entered Medical School continuing his medical illustrations, having just signed a contract with a new publication. Bolinsky took a leave of absence and left Michigan State University to pursue an illustration project with Yale surgeon K.J Lee and continue medical school at Yale. He launched his first illustration company, Advanced Imaging Inc., in 1983.