ABOUT US
Hello and Welcome to the SCAN Organization! SCAN stands for Skin Cancer Awareness. We are a nonprofit organization educating hair and skin professionals on how to detect signs of potential skin cancer and provide those professionals with the tools they need to refer their clients to a dermatology provider.
Every great movement starts with just
one person with a kind heart.
2018
All thanks to his hair professional for saving his life, Stephen W. Gibson envisioned and started the SCAN project shortly after his surgery in late 2018. After several mentions of a suspicious area on his scalp by his hairdresser, Debbie Gale, Steve had his scalp checked by a dermatologist. Steve was called back into his doctors office and was informed that he had melanoma on his scalp. After a biopsy, the melanoma cancer was removed.
2019
2019
Southern Utah University was the first university to pilot the program that we then called cancer awareness for hairdressers. This pilot was intended to train hairdressers and help increase their self efficacy so they would refer their clients to dermatologists like Steve’s hairdresser. During the pilot SUU interns personally visited 83 hairdressers in their studios.
Late 2019
Late 2019
Steve invited Utah Valley University to be the second university to have interns visit hairdressers in their studios. The COVID-19 pandemic prevented the visitation of hairdressers until the fall semester 2021. During this time 55 beauty professionals were certified despite the intense restrictions on the project.
2019 – 2023
2019 – 2023
With great help from Mark Hyde, Mary Brown and Maelin a grant was obtained for the SCAN project from the DPAF.