How one student's vision is changing medical education for all.

Anatome photoshoot underway.

Anatome began as a student dissertation, but it has quickly grown into a pioneering project reshaping how diversity is represented in medical education. Currently in her final year as a medical student, Aisia is using £9,000 of Cascade funding from generous donors like you to address underrepresentation in medical resources. Five photoshoots, amassing 974 anatomical images, have enabled her to produce an image bank and a surface anatomy textbook, alongside podcasts, an Equity in Action toolkit and many more resources to improve representation in healthcare.

“We don’t expose students and healthcare professionals to people who look different. One of our models, Catrin, is a burns survivor – when she goes into the GP with a cough or cold, they ask all these questions about her burns injury. It’s like they are overwhelmed by it," said Aisia.

Everything we work towards is with the aim of better representation for marginalised communities – including patients and students and staff members. People deserve to be represented in the resources that are used for teaching. We’re not just showing a light-skinned, cisgender, able-bodied, muscular male—we’re showing what the actual population looks like.
Aisia Lea

Aisia feels passionately that healthcare should be equitable for all varieties of patient groups; that her project should give people pause to think about things a little bit differently when they’re interacting with people who might have a visible difference or disability.

Impact

From its academic roots, Anatome has grown into a movement with real-world impact. Not only does Aisia’s Cascade funding allow her to arrange photoshoots and print textbooks, but it has helped her to set up a conference for medical professionals and students to present research, view her images at exhibition and discuss representation in healthcare. Aptly named a ‘Day of Diversity’, the conference in June 2025 featured keynote speakers Dr Deborah Merrick, Head of Anatomy and Professor Claire Stewart, Dean and Head of the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, amongst many other respected field leaders.

Aisia balances her studies and placements with working on Anatome, with the support of some other students who volunteer their time to assist. While it has been a lot of hard work, it has also helped her learn and grow as a student here in Nottingham.

Being involved in Anatome has changed my life. I was a runner up in the Unidays Student of the Year competition, a top 10 Sky Black Undergraduate Student of the Year, and I received a Vice-Chancellor’s medal for my work with Anatome. It’s opened a lot of doors for me.
Aisia Lea

The models hired for the project have impressive stories of their own to tell; Tyler is a GymShark ambassador who was born with one leg and is an adaptive fitness coach. Another, Catrin, a 96% burns survivor, is an advocate and speaker who has appeared in Vogue.

Future plans

As Anatome continues to grow, Aisia hopes it will inspire a new standard of inclusivity in medical education - one where every body is seen, valued, and understood.

“At the moment I’m the driving force behind Anatome, and I want to keep the work going. I want to invest in the future of the project, not just waste the money. It was just amazing to be given the Cascade funding; it’s allowed us to really expand beyond our first few photoshoots to produce so much more, and to support Anatome’s growth in the future.”

Funding from Cascade has been absolutely key to allowing Aisia to develop Anatome into the impressive campaign it is today. From the website to the conference, to the textbooks, none of it would be possible without the support of generous donors. 

If you are interested in supporting Cascade projects, you can do so here. 

If you would like more information on Anatome, you can find their website here.