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Home » News » Art Alum Larry Weru Selected to Participate in Harvard Medical School’s Media and Medicine Intensive Program

Art Alum Larry Weru Selected to Participate in Harvard Medical School’s Media and Medicine Intensive Program

Published January 9, 2021

 

FSU Art BA ’14 Larry Weru is selected to participate in the Media and Medicine Intensive Program from Harvard Medical School to explore how storytelling and visual communications can be used to impact public health.

Media and Medicine participants design and develop projects to address the seemingly intractable health challenges facing our country and the world. They are instructed by Harvard faculty, renowned writing industry experts, and health care professionals on storytelling theory, craft, and strategy, and develop a network of like-minded storytellers with an interest in impacting the health field.

The postgraduate interdisciplinary program is led by Department of Global Health and Social Medicine faculty directors Dr. Neal Baer, a pediatrician, television showrunner, executive producer, and writer for ER, Law & Order: SVU, and Designated Survivor, and Dr. Suzanne Koven, a primary care physician and Writer in Residence at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Students of the inaugural class published over 30 op-eds in national newspapers, including USA Today, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The LA Times, and also published poetry and personal essays. Graduates of the intensive program are awarded a certificate, are eligible to become associate members of Harvard Medical School Alumni Association and Harvard University Alumni Association, and are invited to attend program alumni events.

Weru graduated from FSU with dual degrees in Studio Art and Biological Science. In 2015 he gave a TEDx talk to discuss how color theory can help us design better election maps and his research was featured by Fast Company. In 2019, his “Muddy America” election map and color-balancing algorithm went viral, receiving over 250,000 visitors and 12,000 upvotes on Reddit. Two months ago, on election day, his Muddy Map surfaced on the front page of Hacker News and has been re-shared by journalists, policymakers, and a former Microsoft Principal Design Director.

During his time at FSU, Larry served as SGA senator for the College of Fine Arts, Co-founder of the College Leadership Council for the College of Fine Arts, and board member of the Student United Way. He was a LeaderShape alumnus and a brother of Alpha Phi Omega. Florida State recognized him as a Seminole Torchbearer and Garnet and Gold Scholar. Five years ago he was selected as a “7 Under 30” Alumnus of FSU by the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship and last year he was recognized as a Notable Nole by the FSU Alumni Association