Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine Develops Database of Diverse Skin Images to Advance Education in Dermatology for all Skin Types

Skin tones can make conditions appear radically different from individual to individual. Lesions on a person with darker skin can be totally missed, leading to dangerous oversights.

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine has created a comprehensive database of thousands of images to better help clinicians understand and diagnose the variations in conditions in various skin tones.

The Skin of Color Clinical Dermatology Atlas database, which addresses a critical gap in medical education, is an initiative led by Jennifer Zepf, DO, associate professor of Medical Sciences and vice chair of Pathology at the school.

The initiative emerged from a growing recognition that standard dermatological textbooks and educational materials predominantly feature light skin tones, creating significant gaps in diagnostic training. This lack of diverse imagery has been linked to diagnostic errors, particularly in conditions like skin cancer, where presentation can vary dramatically across different skin tones.

"Dr. Zepf's work represents a transformative approach to medical education that directly addresses healthcare disparities," said Dr. Jeffrey R. Boscamp, Dean of the School of Medicine. "By creating this rich database of diverse skin images, she has provided our faculty and students with an essential tool for developing accurate pattern recognition across all patient populations. This is precisely the kind of innovative thinking that advances both medical education and healthcare equity."

The idea is pinned to research published last year in the Journal of the Medical Library Association titled "Standing up for representation in undergraduate medical curricula through medical student, librarian, and faculty collaboration: a case report. The paper described the development of the "Representation in Medicine" toolkit, which laid the groundwork for the current and most exciting project—the comprehensive skin image database.

The database is already being integrated into medical school curricula, allowing students to develop more accurate diagnostic skills across patient populations. It was made possible by funding support from a New Jersey Health Foundation Educational Grant.

The vision for this resource extends beyond the medical school—it will be available not only to students and faculty but also to clinicians and others across the vast Hackensack Meridian Health network. Most significantly, there are plans to potentially make the database available to the general public, a truly important and key feature that would dramatically expand its impact.