The walls along the hallways of the University of Washington School of Medicine's surgery department are lined with portraits of (mostly) white surgeons.

One artist/nurse decided to change the conversation, and perception, via art. It worked. Come the first of the new year, that hallway will look different. 

When Andrea Gahl isn't working as a trauma nurse coordinator at Harborview Medical Center (where she has cared for patients for the past 20 years), she can often be found painting. More often than not, she is creating portraits of surgical residents, and portraying an up-to-date view of the racial diversity she sees at Harborview and UW Medical Center. 

Gahl's art, and her subject matter, have recently been mentioned in articles in JAMA and Crosscut.