On a summer day at the Citi Open, sunscreen feels less like a beauty recommendation and more like common sense. Between hours of tennis, heat and direct sun exposure, SPF should be as essential courtside as water and a good pair of sunglasses. But for Black people, the conversation around sun protection has historically been complicated by one particularly persistent myth: melanin will handle it.
It won’t.
“While melanin provides some natural photoprotection, it is not enough to prevent ultraviolet (UV) damage, premature aging, or skin cancer,” says Jessica Alison, AVP of Medical Communications at La Roche-Posay. “UV radiation causes DNA mutations and oxidative stress in all skin types.”
That science sits at the center of a much bigger conversation happening in dermatology right now. Because protecting Black skin is one thing. Making sure it is actually represented in the research, textbooks, diagnostic tools and clinical trials shaping modern medicine is another.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of La Roche-Posay’s Young Investigator Grant program, an initiative designed to provide early-career dermatologists, residents and fellows with funding for clinical research. For its 2025 cycle, researchers submitted 28 proposals, with seven projects ultimately receiving grants, the most awarded in a single year in the program’s history.
The research doesn’t live in the cosmetic side of the beauty aisle either. The selected projects explore everything from teledermatology and skin cancer detection to hidradenitis suppurativa, transplant patient quality of life, pigmentary modulation and trauma-informed laser treatment for survivors of human trafficking.
In other words, this is skin care in its most literal sense.
“This year’s projects stood out for their clinical relevance, innovative methodologies and clear focus on patient-centric outcomes,” Alison says. “They signal a future where dermatological science is increasingly personalized, technology-driven and focused on addressing unmet needs across diverse patient populations.”
Among the recipients is Dr. Matthew Draelos, whose research explores fluorescence-based detection and surgical management of non-melanoma skin cancer across all skin phototypes. Dr. Misty Eleryan is studying a hybrid teledermatology and mobile-care model aimed at improving skin cancer detection and treatment access in rural communities. Dr. Leonardo Tjahjono is researching treatment for moderate-to-severe hidradenitis suppurativa, a chronic inflammatory skin condition that can have an outsized impact on quality of life.
Then there is Dr. Rohan Shah’s project, which looks at laser therapy and skin-barrier science through a trauma-informed approach for survivors of human trafficking. Collectively, the research makes a compelling argument for where dermatology needs to go next: outside of a one-skin-tone, one-patient, one-clinic model.
For Black patients, that evolution is overdue.
For generations, dermatology education overwhelmingly centered white skin. Conditions that may appear bright red or pink on lighter complexions can manifest differently against brown and Black skin, creating the possibility of missed symptoms, delayed diagnoses and patients who simply don’t recognize themselves in the medical imagery they’re shown.
“Historically, medical textbooks relied heavily on images of white patients, even though many dermatological conditions present quite differently in skin of color,” Alison says.
There has been movement. Advocacy around skin-of-color education has grown, as has representation within clinical research and physician training. La Roche-Posay says part of its work has included developing more inclusive image databases and distributing 1,000 complimentary copies of the Skin of Color Atlas, authored by dermatologists Dr. Susan Taylor and Dr. Nada Elbuluk, to dermatology residents.
But representation in a textbook is only one part of the equation. Representation also means making sure the people conducting the research and treating the patients reflect the world outside the examination room.
La Roche-Posay has sponsored a three-year fellowship at Howard University as part of an effort to expand representation within dermatology. The relationship carries particular weight considering Howard’s long history of educating Black physicians, scientists and medical leaders.
“When you consider that the average dermatologist impacts roughly 300,000 patient visits over the course of a career, supporting early-career talent creates a profound multiplier effect,” Alison says.
That multiplier is important. Funding one physician isn’t simply funding one study. Early money can determine whether an idea ever makes it beyond a research proposal. It can help a young investigator produce findings, publish work, attract larger grants and eventually establish an independent research career.
The program has already watched that cycle come full circle. Dr. Adam Friedman of George Washington University received one of the grants in 2009. Nearly two decades later, he chairs the committee judging the next generation of applicants.
And that next generation is entering dermatology at a moment when technology could dramatically change who gets access to it.
Teledermatology, mobile clinics and digital health tools can bring expertise beyond major hospitals and metropolitan medical centers, particularly for patients facing geographic or economic barriers. But technology alone isn’t equity. Alison points to community engagement and culturally competent care as equally important pieces of closing the gap.
Perhaps nowhere is that gap more urgent than skin cancer.
Black people have spent decades hearing variations of the same misinformation: We don’t burn. We don’t need sunscreen. We don’t get skin cancer.
Melanin does offer some natural UV protection, but natural protection is not immunity. Although melanoma occurs less frequently among people of color, Alison notes that it can be diagnosed at more advanced stages, when the disease is more difficult to treat.
That makes research designed to recognize skin cancer across the full spectrum of human skin more than an exercise in inclusion. It can become a matter of survival.
At the Citi Open, La Roche-Posay brought that message out of the laboratory and onto the grounds by sponsoring complimentary skin checks and distributing Anthelios sunscreen samples. There is a practical beauty lesson buried inside the science too. For years, one of the barriers between Black consumers and sunscreen has been decidedly unscientific: nobody wants to walk around looking like they lost a fight with a bag of flour. Newer sunscreen textures that disappear rather than leaving the infamous white cast remove one more excuse from the equation.
And there are plenty of excuses floating around.
Social media has democratized beauty knowledge in incredible ways, particularly for Black consumers who spent decades underserved by mainstream beauty media. It has also created a universe where a viral TikTok can occasionally carry more authority than decades of peer-reviewed research.
One claim Alison would happily see disappear is the idea that chemical sunscreen filters cause cancer.
“There is no credible evidence that chemical sunscreens are harmful, but there is unanimous agreement that UV radiation causes skin cancer,” she says. Instead, the recommendation is remarkably straightforward: broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher, year-round and across every skin tone.
No twelve-step routine required.
The bigger lesson of La Roche-Posay’s 20-year grant anniversary, however, isn’t really about one sunscreen or even one company. It’s about what happens when skin science expands its definition of whose skin matters.
The 2026 Young Investigator Grant is now accepting applications, offering up to $50,000 in funding for clinical research from eligible residents, fellows and dermatologists within their first five years of post-residency practice in the United States. Proposals are due November 1, 2026, with the next group of researchers expected to be recognized in 2027.
Twenty years into the program, dermatology looks considerably different from when it began. The next twenty should push the field further.
Because Black skin doesn’t need a separate science. It needs to be included in the science from the beginning.