Humorous and satirical works—including caricatures as well as the field of graphic medicine which considers the role that comics can play in medical education, health literacy, healthcare communication, and more—provide unique insight into controversies and opinions in health care, depict health care professionals as seen through the eyes of their contemporaries, and illuminate the political and social setting of health care and the health professions.

NLM collects these works selectively with emphasis on those which address visual communication to reduce health disparities, as well as historically important issues, events and personalities, and other topics of current concern to U.S. health professionals.