Research Guides: Medical Images: Images for Publishing

Creating Generative Artificial Intelligence Images

Generative AI can be used to generate multimedia objects from text, such as images, videos, vocals, music, and even 3D objects! In these cases, deep learning attempts to find patterns within a specific type of media (images, sounds, etc.) and uses this data to synthesize new media based on prompts from the user.

The images created by generative artificial intelligence involve legal and ethical considerations. It is critical to keep up to date on the laws involved in distributing images created by generative artificial intelligence.

Zoom at Noon: Applying Generative AI in Medical Education (2-22-24)
From VCU School of Medicine and VCU Libraries, dive into the practical applications of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in medical education with this interactive session.
Applying Generative AI in Medical Education
Slides by Oscar Keyes (VCU Multimedia Teaching & Learning Librarian) for "Zoom at Noon: Applying Generative AI in Medical Education (2-22-24)"

Generative Artificial Intelligence
by Hope Kelly Last Updated Mar 18, 2024 1403 views this year

The Ethical Considerations section presents resources on the legal and ethical considerations of creating images using generative artificial intelligence.

Free Medical Image Resources

Servier Medical ART
Servier Medical Art is a library featuring carefully curated medical visuals, perfect for creating compelling educational aids and enriching your research work. All the resources are freely available for use, under CC BY 4.0.
Health Icons
Health Icons is a volunteer effort to create a ‘global good’ for health projects all over the world. These icons are available in the public domain for use in any type of project.
HEAL: Health Education Assets Library
HEAL is a digital collection of educational materials for the health sciences. "The Health Education Assets Library (HEAL) is a digital library that provides freely accessible digital teaching resources of the highest quality that meet the needs of today's health sciences educators and learners."
CDC: Public Health Image Library
Public Health Image Library (PHIL) is an extensive collection of still images, image sets, and multimedia files related to public health. Most images are in public domain and free of restrictions; however, some are copyright protected.
National Eye Institute Photos, Images & Video
"Items here are not copyrighted. However, credit as follows: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health (except where indicated otherwise)."
National Cancer Institute Visuals Online
The National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Visuals Online provides a range of photographs and illustrations that may help communicators of medical and public health convey meaning, describe concepts, and tell stories.
DPDx A-Z Index
DPDx is an educational resource designed for health professionals and laboratory scientists.
Cell Image Library
This Image Library is a repository for images and movies of cells from a variety of organisms.The Cell offers a variety of licensing options for selection by submitters, including Creative Commons licenses.
Open-i
Open-i provides access to over 3.7 million images from about 1.2 million PubMed Central® articles; 7,470 chest x-rays with 3,955 radiology reports; 67,517 images from NLM History of Medicine collection; and 2,064 orthopedic illustrations. Although copyright remains with the authors or the journal, a link to the copyright license type may be found below the individual Open-i image on the detailed view page.
Wikimedia Commons - Medicine
The medicine section of a large database of freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.

Commercial Medical Image Creation

The following resources are examples of other image services. These may charge fees or require subscriptions. Inclusion does not imply endorsement by VCU Libraries.

BioRender
Online scientific illustration creator with over 40,000 icons and templates from over 30 fields of life science, curated and vetted by industry professionals. A free account permits up to four (free to reuse in classroom) illustrations.
NetterImages.com
The Netter Collection consists of thousands of illustrations covering all areas of medicine and health science, including basic science, diseases, disorders and treatments.
Nucleus Medical Media
Nucleus Medical Media specializes in creating custom-order, original 3D medical/scientific animations – depicting scenes at gross anatomical, cellular, and molecular levels.

Stock Images

Pixabay
A repository of public domain pictures including free vectors, drawings and photos. You can use any Pixabay image without attribution in digital and printed form, even for commercial applications.
Pexels
Pexels provides high quality and completely free stock photos licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. All photos are tagged, searchable and also easy to discover.
Openverse
An extensive library of free stock photos, images, and audio, available for free use.