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Mingqian (Shelly) Xie majored in Biology with a minor in Creative Writing at Stanford University. Dr. Xie recently obtained her M.D. degree at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.
Since middle school she has explored various art media, including oil and acrylic paints, charcoal, water, and now sand, with a special love for working with light and colors. Shelly illuminates personal stories of global health issues, such as sickle cell disease in the Caribbean, through sand animation. An example of her work is “Neglected”, a sand animation performance that tells a personal story about people affected by schistosomiasis in Ghana. Rivaling malaria in prevalence and socioeconomic impact in tropical countries, schistosomiasis infects 200 million people in 74 countries. Fewer than 10% are treated. Shelly hopes in the future to use science and art to improve patient care and healing. Shelly Xie is the guest artist to PAHO’s exhibitions “Transformation for Development” that are part of the Art for Research Project.