Hi! My name is Megan Stuart, I am glad you are here!

I have been creative my whole life, but my passion for painting blossomed my junior year of high school. I spent a majority of my senior year in front of my easel in the classroom, creating a large senior exhibition that was awarded a top 100 gallery showing and scholarship. But my love towards medicine led me to a biology major at South Dakota State University. In my sophomore year I started enrolling in art courses. Creating helped me manage the stress of college basketball and the course load of a pre-professional program. It also helped me cope and re-center myself, and I started to find how art not only made me a better person, but I could find ways to help others around me as well.

I believe that one of the major responsibilities of artists is to help people not only get to know and understand something with their minds but also to feel it emotionally and physically. Art can heal, inspire, spark engagement and create deeper connections. All of which are important aspects of providing optimal patient care.

I discovered arts in healthcare during an art therapy internship at Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D. We developed a program in the Cancer Center where we would paint the cancer radiation treatment masks for pediatric patients to look like their favorite superhero. By painting patients masks, I was able to transform the emotional connotations of the mask into something more positive, and empower each patient to face their fears. I connected people to the healing power of arts at key moments in their lives. As an Artist at Sanford, I listened to stories of loss, sadness, mental illness, and also stories full of hope and joy, all while doing art with patients and families. This was a remarkable experience for me in finding my career path. After finishing two summers as an artist in residence during my junior and senior year of college, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in healthcare and in order to make an impact as remarkable as being an artist at Sanford Hospital.

I attended the University of South Dakota and recieved my Masters in Physician Assistant Studies in 2022. Shortly after, I started working at the Univerisity of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital. Throughout PA school, I would draw out difficult concepts, and by the end, I had sketchbooks full of drawings. This carried over as I started my job as a Physician Assistant in Pediatric Cardiology. I was able to bring art back into my medical practice by drawing diagrams not only for my own learning, but to use as a resource for families and care teams. That’s when I took the leap, and created Heartdfx.

My work strives to bridge the worlds of art and medicine, using creativity to transform complex scientific concepts into accessible, emotionally resonant experiences. Through detailed anatomical illustrations and art-based projects, I aim to empower patients, families, and communities, fostering connection, healing, and understanding in both medical and personal journeys.