​Linda Brown laughing with Tammie Edwards, Medical Arts Chief.

Linda Jane Brown worked for the Medical Arts Branch for over 48 years and was an integral part of Medical Arts’ creative process and culture. After battling cancer for three years and at the age of 73, she recently passed away.

In January 2014, Linda retired as the Creative Services Director after 17 years but returned as a volunteer and mentor exemplifying her dedication to NIH and the creative process. She also volunteered at the NIH History office, helping with the archival of years of illustrations, posters and photographs created by Medical Arts staff. Brown confessed that she could not picture herself not working, but slowly transitioned into retirement. Her transitional phase included volunteering and mentoring Medical Arts creative staff. She eventually began to enjoy her retirement and ended her volunteer work at the end of 2014.

Ms. Brown first joined Medical Arts as a general illustrator in 1966, after graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in Fine Arts. Brown began her career at NIH with the expectation of moving to the West Coast at some point, but that never happened. She enjoyed her work and her clients so much that she didn’t mind that her plans changed, affirming that “NIH is a wonderful place to work.” Brown considered herself old-school and believed that whatever she produced should be quality driven. When she transitioned from being an illustrator to creative services director, Linda was still able to keep some important projects for herself. As the creative services director, one of her vital responsibilities was to interview Medical Arts’ clients and help match them to best-fit teams to get the job done. “I like to play matchmaker,” she beamed, “I managed the more complicated projects,” organizing the tasks and workloads. Brown had an impressive knack of identifying which designer or illustrator completed a project by simply looking at it. She was able to distinguish her employees’ works of art by the type of ink used, inconspicuous signature designs, or particular techniques.

“With tremendous creative energy, Linda worked to create a vision and an award-winning NIH standard of Art as it applies to communicating discoveries in biomedical research. She ensured the continuation of this tradition by training and mentoring numerous creative staff over the years, to include myself. As such we have always considered her a national treasure,” said Tammie Edwards, Medical Arts Chief. In remembrance of Linda Brown and her dedicated efforts, Medical Arts is planning an Art Show to celebrate her life’s works and contributions, date pending. 

A young, smiling Linda Brown pictured with some of her artwork.