We are thrilled to announce Aquila Akingbade, Ikunna Nwosu and Eric Zang as the recipients of the 2021 DCMF Recognition Award for excellence in melanoma prevention, awareness and support.

As students of colour, Aquila, Ikunna and Eric noticed a profound lack of diversity in images showing skin conditions in their medical school curriculum at Queens University. They realized that they could not diagnose common conditions in themselves and people identifying as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour). Digging deeper, they realized this issue was not unique to Queen’s School of Medicine, as their peers from other medical schools corroborated their concerns. Aquila, Ikunna and Eric worried that medical graduates were not being given adequate tools to competently recognize skin conditions in a large proportion (20% and rising) of the Canadian population who identify as people of colour.

To address these gaps, Aquila, Ikunna and Eric spearheaded a thorough review of the first 2 years of their medical curriculum with the help of over 100 hundred volunteers. The review prompted them to 1) advocate for Queens Medical and Health Sciences students to gain access to VisualDx, a more diverse database of medical photos, 2) outline recommendations for improvements to individual courses and 3) call on Queens University to change the medical school curriculum moving forward.

Thanks to their efforts, professors have been held to a higher standard, stepping up to the challenge of updating curricular content to reflect the diversity present in clinical practice. Additionally, several of Aquila, Ikunna and Eric’s peers have reported increased competence and confidence in identifying skin conditions in a diverse group, and have praised VisualDx’s utility in clinical decision-making and ease of use. Nationally, their work has prompted similar curricular reviews in other medical schools. Because of their leadership, five of Canada’s 17 medical schools now have access to VisualDx, improving dermatology education across Canada.

Aqulia, Ikunna and Eric’s contributions are particularly important for melanoma. Black patients are more likely to be diagnosed with late stage melanoma compared to white patients (57% vs 17%) and have higher mortality. This is often due to an inability of practitioners to recognize the presentation of this serious cancer in darker skin tones.

We commend Aquila, Ikunna and Eric, for their work to improve racial representation, doctor training and patient care in dermatology. We thank them for their game-changing efforts to improve the early detection of melanoma in patients of colour, which will help to reduce late stage diagnoses and mortality.