I first met Dr. Netter at an international medical imaging convention in Amsterdam. He was walking around looking at the exhibits and I introduced myself. We ended up talking about computers for medical illustration. I proposed to show him the newest hi definition Quantel computer graphics station that I was working on in Amsterdam. I also invited the head of the Italian medical art school and another American illustrator. You can imagine that I was nervous and driving in Amsterdam is not a piece of cake, but Dr. Netter was great at telling me what a good job I was doing. At least we did not end up in a canal! He was very impressed with the demonstration of computer graphics; at 90 plus he wrote me that he might put it to use at some time in the future. We collaborated on a demonstration for Ciba where I redid some of his illustrations using the Quantel Paint box.


He invited me to visit him in Florida. As my father had retired in Sarasota, on the west coast, I would take the opportunity to visit my father and then drive across to see Dr. Netter at his condo at the Breakers in West Palm Beach. He was a warm and kind host. He was kind enough to say he had mentioned my name as a possible replacement for him one day. I never pursued it, thinking they would want a M.D.


I have had the occasion to work for many world renown doctors, researchers and scientists, but Dr. Netter is probably the best known medical illustrator. It was a great privilege to have met him and to have called him a friend.

Photographs of Dr. Frank Netter by Patrick McDonnell