The Disposables: An artist helps unmask the mental health crisis among doctors

When Ohio artist Jeremy Rosario learned that 400 doctors die by suicide each year, he took to his craft to shed light on the issue. As the creative director for an advertising agency, FCB Health New York, Rosario had a unique opportunity to lead the creative development of their new pro bono initiative called Disappearing Doctors, which focuses on helping physicians improve their mental health. His contribution, “The Disposables,” is a series of handcrafted portraits of doctors lost to suicide, and his medium was donated medical supplies from physician workplaces. It was designed to expose the underbelly of burnout within the medical profession, and it’s made an impact.

Using items such as syringes, scrubs, IV bags, latex gloves, and surgical masks, Rosario developed the likenesses of Dr. Lorna Breen, Emergency Department Director at New York-Presbyterian’s Allen Hospital in New York City; Dr. Ryan Fryman, a physician at Access Urgent Medical Care, The Woods at Parkside, and Helping People Recover in Columbus, Ohio; Dr. Scott Jolley, an emergency physician at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah; and Dr. Anita Lane, a practitioner at MetroHealth Division of General Internal Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio.

Starting  off the canvas, Rosario used stories about his subjects as the texture to his portraits, which humanized and brought to light the complex struggles of their subjects.

“I like to put myself in the mind of a practicing physician who hasn’t slept for a week,” he says. “What does it feel like to give your all to a career, and you feel like you’re going to be thrown in the trash like a piece of garbage?”

Starting  off the canvas, Rosario used stories about his subjects as the texture to his portraits, which humanized and brought to light the complex struggles of their subjects. 

“I like to put myself in the mind of a practicing physician who hasn’t slept for a week,” he says. “What does it feel like to give your all to a career, and you feel like you’re going to be thrown in the trash like a piece of garbage?”

Discarded medical supplies were donated to create the portrait collages.

The project blurred the lines between two-dimensional and three-dimensional work, but the processes were similar. Rosario started the project in Photoshop, doing a color study of photos of his subjects. He then organized the medical items that would become his brush strokes by their color values and considered their volume in the pieces. “There was a lot of thinking,” he says, “things don’t just lay flat.”

Rosario initially sought institutional support for his project, but doors were closed. “They thought it was too dark of a topic,” he says. So he collaborated with his agency to gather the discarded elements he needed to make the portraits from medical professionals.

“One physician said to me, ‘We just lost another doctor, so yes, let's help,’” says Rosario. Doctors and nurses donated 30 boxes of supplies from two states and six medical institutions.

Rosario developed the project with FCB Health to magnify the problem and raise awareness among decision makers in the medical community. “In any other profession, you can get [mental health] help without repercussions,” says Rosario. “But for doctors, there’s this stigma.” Medical boards protect the patient, but not the doctors, Rosario says, and questions about mental illness by the State Medical Board of Ohio, for example, lead to red flags. 

Each portrait uses a unique mix of supplies to create depth and dimension.

Rosario and his agency chose to develop this initiative to magnify the problem and raise awareness among decision makers in the medical community. “In any other profession, you can get [mental health] help without repercussions,” says Rosario. “But for doctors, there’s this stigma.” Medical boards protect the patient, but not the doctors, Rosario says. And honest answers to questions about mental illness by the State Medical Board of Ohio, for example, could lead to red flags.

The impact of the project was profound. Through their collaboration with the Ohio State Medical Association, a confidential questionnaire was developed to identify physicians at risk of suicide and provide them with anonymous counseling. Out of 200 doctors surveyed, 80 were identified as high-risk, emphasizing the urgency needed to address mental health within the medical profession.

A significant outcome was the removal of mental health–related questions from the medical licensing application of the Ohio Medical Board in October 2023. “It was already in the works,” he says, “but creating the art as a way to encourage discussion allowed them to connect the dots.”

The work received the attention of the House of Delegates, the legislative and policy-making body of the American Medical Association (AMA). “This installation is a powerful reminder of those we have lost and the work we must do to prevent these tragedies from happening again,” AMA President Jesse Ehrenfield said in a late 2023 meeting with the group.

The art exhibition was strategically located at a co-working space near Ohio State University’s medical campus, with to soft opening designed to engage 75 hospital leaders, government officials, and medical board directors. The intent was to foster a dialogue about the need for better mental health support for physicians. Mental health professionals from Ohio Health, a not-for-profit healthcare system, were available for discreet conversations in private rooms at the opening.

While the removal of the mental health-related questions in Ohio’s licensing application was a triumph, Rosario says more work needs to be done. He  envisions taking the exhibit, "The Disposables," to national medical conferences, such as the American Medical Physician Alliance's annual meeting. Additionally, he contemplates future art pieces, including a quilt made of medical masks and data visualization representing the complex issues faced by physicians.

Rosario's art has its place. It’s facilitated conversations that can save lives and transform the healthcare landscape. “As artists,” he says, “we are called to be salt and light. Salt seasons things that are bland, and being a light allows you to look at things a little differently, to provide a clearer path.”