Hello I’m Ashton Luxgrant I’m the head Medical writer working on our upcoming female model, I have a masters in human anatomy from the university of Edinburgh, and to work on a project such as Complete Anatomy’s very first full female model is one that is very exciting and personal to me and I hope to share that with you today. In this video we will be highlighting the research that has gone into creating the model and how our Medical and 3D teams have worked together to create this special addition to Complete Anatomy.
Historically, human anatomy has been taught predominantly on male bodies. We often only see the female form when it is in relation to the reproductive system. But of course, we know women are much more than their reproductive parts. Brining a full female model into Complete Anatomy is so special to me in the hopes that anatomical teaching will veer away from a male bias and be much more inclusive of other people.
As we mentioned before we did not want to just take our male model and add in female specific organs. Instead, we wanted to make a female model that is uniquely female in every way. As such a lot of research had to go into the preparation of this project and it had to start with the skeleton as it’s the base-line architecture that the rest of the anatomy will be built on and of course one of the parts of the body where you find many sexual dimorphisms.
The best place to understand sexual dimorphic features is to look at forensic anthropology. We looked at many different papers and texts. If you are an anatomy student may already know the main differences are seen in the skull and pelvis. However, we didn’t stop there; we have also focused on every other bone of the body, such as the long bones to ensure that our female model was uniquely feminine in terms of anatomical position and build, which would become very important later in areas of the carrying angle and q-angle.
Once everything is compiled, that is when the real fun of the project can begin. We sit with the 3D artists one to one to communicate all of this information so they can turn it into the beautiful model that you then see on your own screen. We do this in a variety of different ways, from creating visual instructions to follow, talking them through difficult concepts, and even brainstorming how to overcome obstacles with the wider team. Of course we weren’t alone, we were very lucky to have the assistance of Dr. Yasmin Carter who is a specialist in comparative anatomy. With Yasmin’s help we really ensured that the model we were presenting was accurate.
It amazes me that we have been able to build a full female model in a short amount of time where it took years to complete the male in the past. In order to overcome this challenge our team had to grow, with several med writers and 3D artists working together. That meant collaboration was essential and communication was high, and we employed many different project management techniques. For myself this really allowed me to gain invaluable teamwork skills that are a necessity to life.
To me what makes this model so important is that it is one step closer to female representation in medical education. It’s not uncommon iatrogenic practices happen in medicine that harms women. One region that required very important remodeling was the pelvis, specifically the external genitalia. Lack or incorrect representations of this area have left many women with damage to the region. We sincerely hope this new representation in 3D is useful for those going into gynecological practices, midwifery, and plastic surgery, but also for healthcare training in general.
Throughout our modeling we consistently gained feedback not only from subject matter experts and team members, but also from other female colleagues at 3D4Medical. Through surveys we obtained feedback on how they interpreted the proportions of the model and how life-like and representative it felt for them. Representing 50% of the population in our platform is very important to us and just the start of how we want to make Complete Anatomy more inclusive.
In the end we have created a truly special model that I can’t wait for you to see and interact with on your own. Thank you for listening and be sure to stay tuned for future videos taking a further look into our female model!