MetaOptima with DermEngine is part of the mission to create a national skin check program across Australia. Our partnership with Skin Check Champions is revolutionizing the way we are prioritizing skin health in one of the most affected areas in the world.

Skin Cancer in Australia: Facing The Facts

Due to its geographical location, Australia has a population that is more likely to develop a form of skin cancer. In fact, 2 out of 3 Australians are affected by skin cancer in their lifetime¹. Its proximity to the equator, the thinning of the ozone layer, and a lifestyle of the outdoors make Australians highly vulnerable. When you combine this with the fact that there is not an official national effort towards the prevention or education of skin cancer, Australians are left to their own awareness and action to prevent the likelihood. 

Here in, the Skin Check Champions

The Skin Check Champions nonprofit organization came to be when a close friend passed away from a suspicious mole they didn't know they had at 26 years young. Since then, the Skin Check Champions have worked tirelessly to ensure Australians have the education, resources, and healthcare solutions against the life-threatening disease that is too common in the country. 

• Skin Check Champions hosts free, public skin check events for high risk communities around Australia
• Corporate skin checks provided on-site to Australia's most common workplaces
  
• Public campaigns, Beard Season and Strip Off for Skin Cancer, successfully raise donations and awareness to build a national skin check program
  
• Partnering with global leaders in technology and research to create the world's first scalable, AI-assisted and nurse-led national skin check program
  
  

A Partner Solution
DermEngine is a skin cancer analytics platform with features and tools for imaging, documentation, and care coordination. As its trained on a growing database of over 14 million images, DermEngine can provide intelligent analytics from these cases and offer comprehensive statistics of the likelihood of malignancy- a tool dermatologists, specialists, and doctors never had. On top of this, DermEngine is designed to simplify and enhance your workflow with award-winning AI-based tools. 

A well-developed computer algorithm can be trained on the same visual cues taught to a professional dermatologist to detect the same abnormalities and flag for an expert's more careful review. One of the greatest implications is the ability to train medical and nonmedical staff with this tool to offer a skin check solution to more people. This can be supported fully remotely with DermEngine's teledermatology feature.

Project Check Mate: The World's First Intelligent Skin Check Program

By partnering with one another's strengths, the world's first targeted, AI-assisted and nurse-led skin check program can be created. 

Last year, the Skin Check Champions and their partners held multiple popup clinics throughout communities in Australia. In one summer, the team performed over 4,700 skin checks, identified about 1,800 suspicious lesions, and flagged nearly 300 potential skin cancers². These came from communities in Australia that spend most of their time outdoors, like farmers and other public services (e.g. policing, firefighting, etc.) An organized national program can help increase the chances that melanoma is caught early by providing access to skin checks services. 

We partner with the Skin Check Champions and other organizations to help pioneer the first-in-the-world screening program. By leveraging early-detection and change-monitoring technology, we can help win the race against skin cancer. Project Checkmate is ongoing with hopes to reach more parts of Australia. You can follow along with the Skin Check Champions on their Instagram page here.

-The MetaOptima Team

Curious to learn about the DermEngine platform? Want to see what else it can do? Book a free demonstration with one of our experts to see around the platform.

Sources

1. https://www.cancer.org.au/about-us/policy-and-advocacy/prevention-policy/national-cancer-prevention-policy/skin-cancer-statistics-and-issues/skin-cancer-incidence-and-mortality

2. https://www.instagram.com/p/C3zMIwprew2/?img_index=1