Volume 79 Cover Art

The Cancer Coat of Arms developed for the cover of the YJBM Special Issue on Cancer encompasses the defining characteristics of Cancer while also playing to the Yale tradition of the college system with its crests and banners. The crab represents cancer, the fire, inflammation. Within the shield reading clockwise from the top left: the swords represent host defense against infection. The spores and plant germination refers to the seed and soil hypothesis in which the tumor cells (seeds) in the blood can only germinate in distant sites (soil). The tools represent tissue repair. The DNA represents the genetic basis for cancer. Finally, the scroll along the bottom is the latin for inflammation. Interestingly, emerging connections between cancer and inflammation seem to be reinforced by the presence of the word 'tumor' in the Latin description.

About the Artist

Rachel Anna Walker
born: 1976, Detroit, Michigan
currently resides: New Haven, CT

Rachel Walker earned a BA of Visual Arts from Brown University. In 1999 She moved to NYC and worked as a graphic designer, a baker and a textile designer for Macy's home brands. This past spring Rachel graduated from Pratt Institute with a Masters in Industrial Design. At Pratt she worked on exhibition design projects, signage and mapping design for urban environments and developed and produced a line of textiles. In 2006 she won the top prize for her textile design while studying in Copenhagen at the Danmark Designskole.

She can be reached at rachelannawalker@gmail.com