Audrey Arnott, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, was first employed as an artist by Hugh Cairns at the London Hospital. Cairns arranged for Arnott to be trained as a medical illustrator under Max Brödel, a close friend of Harvey Cushing and founder of the first 'Department of Art as Applied to Medicine' at Johns Hopkins University. During her time at John Hopkins Arnott developed a close friendship with Dorcas Padget, medical illustrator to Walter Dandy. Arnott was a highly accomplished artist and trained numerous other British medical illustrators and was one of the founders of the Medical Artists Association. Arnott's training and friendship with Brödel and Padget enabled her to pass on a legacy of neurosurgical illustration to the United Kingdom.