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Melalogic app hopes to shine light on Black skin concerns

Credit: Ricardo Machado/Flickr Creative Commons
Credit: Ricardo Machado/Flickr Creative Commons

Our skin is our biggest organ; its proper care can be lifesaving. What if healthcare providers don’t have evidence to draw on for treatment?

Dr. Chesahna Kindred, a Howard University dermatology professor, and owner of Kindred Hair & Skin Center in Columbia, talks of life-threatening situations that show up because Black skin is rarely included in dermatological research trials … and how she’s trying to change that.

And software developer Avery Smith, whose wife died of melanoma that was not treated aggressively, is developing an app to educate and assist people with Black skin:

“I’m trying to create a tool that I wish existed when my wife was here. And I know that there are people everyday that are going through this issue that are aggravated that they cannot find references to their skin issues.”

Links: Melalogic, Kindred Hair & Skin

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'