Many people aren't represented in anatomy drawings. These professors are changing that

Crack open just about any textbook dealing with medicine or science, and you'll see a lot of the same when it comes to the human anatomy illustrations: often white male bodies, usually very physically fit, absent tattoos, piercings or prosthetics. 

A duo of professors working in kinesiology and anatomy — including one from the University of Windsor — is hoping to change that by creating a new series of anatomy images. 

"The standard images that you see in textbooks don't really show the racial diversity that … I see, when I look out into my class," said Dave Andrews, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Windsor. 

Andrews is working with the University of Calgary's Heather Jamniczky on the project, which has been dubbed the Anatomy Video and Imagery Diversity project, or AVID.

When complete, hundreds of images done by illustrators from across Canada will be available for non-commercial teaching use in medicine, nursing, kinesiology and science. 

Andrews says he's been teaching for 27 years, 23 of those at the University of Windsor. He says he remembers what textbooks looked like even at the outset of his career. 

"The material available in textbooks at the time was less developed than what we have now even," he said. "In all fairness, many textbooks have incorporated diversity into the imagery that they use. It's just not as reflective of what the population is, at least the population that I teach here in Windsor. 

"We're also very interested in the project to see what the illustrators can do in terms of their creativity."

Their illustrations will represent racial diversity and skin tones, as well as people with different body compositions and of different weights, people with piercings and tattoos, different hair colour, and people with amputations and prosthetics. 

Andrews said they have worked to recruit illustrators who are also diverse, and received an outpouring of interest after he presented the project at a teaching conference last summer. 

Andrews said he hopes to see the project, including video, done in a couple of years depending on funding.

Illustrator says project adds representation

Elena Huang is one of the illustrators working on the project, and a second-year medical student at McMaster.  University. 

Having learned from less-than-diverse textbooks herself, she says she's happy to be part of the project that utilized both her love of art and medical knowledge. 

"It's important to raise awareness about the need to really have diversity in the kind of things that guide patient care," Huang said. "It's a good way of me contributing to that, but also allowing my passion for illustration to come through as well."

Huang also said she appreciated that the drawings would be available for educators to use.  

"It's also good to see these topologies on patients of all different backgrounds, because that's really important for translating into clinical practice," she said. 

"It's important not only for the next generation of students, but just to see yourself represented in illustrations. It's similar to seeing people of colour in positions like CEOs and acting and in the media, I think it normalizes the existence of [people of colour and persons with disabilities] which really is still a concern unfortunately."