May Hyman Lesser (1927-2001) graduated from Newcomb College with honors in Fine Arts in 1947. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Alabama and did further graduate work at Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, and University of California, Irvine. She was granted the Tiffany Graphics Art Award and taught printmaking at the U.C. Irvine. As an artist, May Lesser focused on medical themes, working inside the medical centers of UCLA, University of Southern California, and Tulane University. Lesser spent the last three decades of her life immersing herself in the field of medicine and creating a body of artwork chronicling the study and practice of medicine. She published two books, "The Art of Learning Medicine" and "An Artist in the University Medical Center."