This week we are highlighting Chidiebere Ibe for his mission to bring inclusivity and representation to the world of medical illustrations. Chidiebere Ibe, a 25-year-old first-year medical student at Ukraine’s Kyiv Medical University, is hoping to help change that—starting by making his own medical illustrations featuring Black men, women, and children. His work has found an eager audience online among medical professionals and laypeople alike.
He recently went viral on the internet for this diagram that he created of a black fetus inside its mother. This drawing struck a chord with viewers, many of whom had never realized they had never seen a Black figure in medical diagrams. Since then, his post has received close to 74,000 likes on Instagram, and over 2,000 shares on Twitter.
“Textbooks are essential to medical training...they walk medical trainees through conditions they will encounter during their practice. The skin is an important organ that protects us and can signal when something is wrong in our body. Yet, most medical illustrations are on the Caucasian skin. This lack of diversity has important implications for medical trainees and their future patients because many conditions and signs look different based on the patient’s skin color.” - Chidiebere Ibe
A January 2021 study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that just 4.5 percent of images in general medicine textbooks show dark skin. Ni-ka Ford, the chair of AMI's diversity committee, said this is an extension of medical racism.
Having diverse representation can improve outcomes. Ibe believed that Black medical students needed to see themselves represented in medical textbooks. It's also important to show the different ways that conditions can present on darker skin.
Ibe's next project addresses exactly that: He is working on a series illustrating common childhood illnesses, all on Black skin.