Former ID fellow, Dr. Maria Bibiana Walshe has stepped into the pastel and digital art world. Maria uses free time to create images incorporating pastel drawing styles, like the image below, “Christ in the Crib” .
Maria also enjoys working with a digital pen on her tablet. Maria has shared with us, examples of her artwork below in her “sheep” and “cow” images.
Dr. Maria Bibiana Walshe (Ristig) completed her ID fellowship training at Washington University in 2003. Her mentors at that time were Dr. Judith Aberg, current chief of the division of infectious diseases and the Dr. George Baehr Professor of Clinical Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Dr. Pablo Tebas, current Professor of Medicine at Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Walshe-Ristig applied the knowledge gained here for her subsequent work in Sub-Saharan Africa, at a place of most need, with the world-leading number of HIV/AIDS patients.
Now Maria and her husband, Ronald Walshe, live in Zurich, Switzerland. Maria continues to care for people in need. She now serves the homeless suffering from HIV/HCV and addiction. In the early 1990s, Zurich was notorious for having Europe’s biggest open drug scene, mostly hard drugs, like heroin. At that time, up to 3,000 drug addicts a day frequented Zurich’s Platzspitz Park, dubbed “needle park” by The New York Times.