We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alicia Christy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Alicia, thanks for joining us today. Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?
As an army doc, a V.A. doc, and now a Red Cross volunteer physician, I have had the privilege of caring for active-duty service women and women veterans for more than 30 years. In addition to providing them with care, I use my artwork to honor them. My series of portraits, “Faces of the Fallen: Women Proudly Served,” is a tribute to women who lost their lives in service to our country, including Lieutenant Colonel Karen Wagner, who was my Company Commander when I was stationed at Walter Reed.
Now, I share these paintings as broadly as I can in order to honor the subjects and to tell their stories.
My hero is Luis Rosa Valentin. Luis was critically injured in Iraq. His face had to be reconstructed, he lost both legs, an arm, hearing in both ears, vision in one eye, and he sustained a traumatic brain injury. He was the most critically wounded patient that survived their injuries at Walter Reed in 2008. They told him they didn’t know how long his recovery would take, because no one with these types of injuries had survived. Luis replied, “I’ll do it in 6 months.”
Luis recently completed a bachelor’s degree in art. Luis also has artwork that is being considered by the Smithsonian collections board for the Smithsonian American Latino Museum.
He did a powerful self-portrait as his art school thesis, that was featured at the British Embassy. I have also attached some images of his wife and newborn baby. You can see more of his work at https://www.singlehandedarts.com/. His email address is singlehandedarts@gmail.com.
What I learned from Luis is resilience. He spoke on a wellness panel at the British Embassy that I facilitated. Luis also shared a very powerful nude self-portrait that was part of the exhibit. https://unitingus.org/british-embassy The Air Force psychiatrist was so impressed; she asked him to speak to the Psychiatry department at the Uniformed Services University.
In 2023 a local news station shared his story .”He can see you with his one eye. He is right-handed because he has no left hand. He can hear you using a cochlear implant. And his two legs are gone. An IED almost killed Luisa Rosa Valentin. But five years ago, he picked up a paint brush, and he painted”.https://www.wmar2news.com/voiceforveterans/a-brush-with-life-veteran-paints-new-story-for-himself.
Luis was also featured on the Maryland State Art Council. Here is his artist bio:
“I am broken. In the spring of 2008, I walked the streets of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq. I walked at the head of a parade of American and Iraqi soldiers 1,000 strong (a term referred to, in the Army, as walking point). Along that route I encountered an improvised explosive device that took both of my legs, my left arm, the sight from my left eye and all the hearing from both ears. But broken, to me, does not mean useless. Broken does not even mean less than I was before. In this same spirit I set out with oil paint and canvas, sculpture, charcoal and graphite, and I show you how broken is sometimes better.”
Alicia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am an African American author, illustrator, physician, and Army Veteran. I retired as Deputy Director of Reproductive Health, Veteran Health Affairs in 2023 .I hold the rank of professor at the Uniformed Services University, and adjunct professor at Howard University School of Medicine. I have had the privilege of caring for active-duty service women and women veterans for more than 40 years. In addition to providing them with care, I use my artwork to honor them. In 2021 I joined a veteran artist group, UnitingUS, which led me to join a veteran artist class led by Steve Alpert. My participation in these groups has given her a larger platform to honor women who served.
My artwork is also my voice for social justice. My painting When Will Black Lives Matter, was selected from over 1,000 entries for the online Art Against Racism exhibit. I have published art and artist statements related to physician advocacy in multiple medical journals, and medical society publications. My cover artwork and artist statement, We Must Speak for the Voiceless and the Vulnerable,was published in the journal Academic Medicine. I have also done cover artwork for Fertility and Sterility Science , and Fertility and Sterility. My artwork has been published in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics. My artwork is available on Uniting US https://unitingus.org/ Fine Art America https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/alicia-christy and RedBubble https://www.redbubble.com/people/blackvet/shop. I also do commision artwork. My artwork was also featured at Dulles and National airports. In 2022 my portraits, Faces of the Fallen: Women Proudly Served was featured at the Library of Congress.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The mission which drives my creative journey is honoring those who served in uniform in the armed forces.
How’d you meet your business partner?
I met the Executive Director of the veteran artist group Uniting US, AnnMarie Halterman, at a Healing Arts Exhibit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in 2021. Uniting US is a veteran non profit whose mission is wellness and healing through the arts, One of the primary goals of my artwork is to honor those individuals who have given their lives in service to this country. Uniting US has supported an number of Faces of the Fallen exhibits. AnnMarie and Uniting US has given me an extraordinary platform to share my artwork
Faces of the Fallen: Women Proudly Served Library of Congress 2022
Faces of the Fallen Vietnam (portraits of the 8 nurses who died in Vietnam) V.A. Central Office 2023
Faces of the Fallen Montgomery County Maryland May 2025 Montgomery Community College
Stories of the Fallen and the Rise of Women in the Military: Uniting US March 6, 2025
Faces of the Fallen Healthcare Heroes Walter Reed National Military Medical Center May 2025
Faces of the Fallen Vietnam Princeton University, Princeton NJ November 2025
I believe in the work of Uniting Us, and proceeds from the sale of my art benefit https://unitingus.org/
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.redbubble.com/people/blackvet/shop, https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/alicia-christy, https://unitingus.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mdartistryonline/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=md%20artistry
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-christy-7855a635/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMWf0xUy3Y0
- Other: Published and Online Medically-Related Artwork1. Cover artwork Fertility and Sterility January 2025 volume 123: Issue 1
2. Honoring Women Who Have Served | ACOG ACOG newsletter March 2022
3. A Legacy of Activism | ACOG ACOG newsletter February 2022
4. VA Office of Health Equity online Veteran Health Equity Gallery https://www.va.gov/HEALTHEQUITY/Veterans_Health_Equity_Art_Gallery.asp?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=
5. Art and Activism: Creating Space as a Form of Resistance | ACOG ACOG newsletter February 2023
6. Christy AY. We must speak for the voiceless and vulnerable: artwork and essay. Academic Medicine 2018; 93(10):1463
7. Christy AY Voting for our health, in color AMA J Ethics. 2021;23(2): E206-207
8. COVID Tears by Alicia Christy — Intima (theintima.org) Accessed March 3, 2023
9. ASRM alicia christy – Twitter Search / Twitter Accessed March 3, 2023
10. Art and Activism: Creating Space as a Form of Resistance | ACOG
11. Christy AY Voting for our health, in color AMA J Ethics. 2021;23(2): E206-207
12. VA Office of Health Equity online Veteran Health Equity Gallery https://www.va.gov/HEALTHEQUITY/Veterans_Health_Equity_Art_Gallery.asp?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=
13. Christy AY Cover art inaugural issue Fertility and Sterility Science F&S Science | Vol 1, Issue 1, Pages 1-104 (August 2020) | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier
14. Healing Arts Exhibit Walter Reed National Military Medical Center https://www.dvidshub.net/news/408445/healing-art-art-healing-exhibit-highlights-healing-power-art
15. Owen C, Armstrong AY. Clinical management of leiomyoma. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am 2015;42(1):67-85