Images: Finding, Using and Citing

Find Biomedical Images and Multimedia Resources:

List of resources adapted from the University of South Carolina Scholl of Medicine Library - Medical Images and Illustrations

Please check the copyright statements on the site before using the image.  Most of the sites listed on this page permit users to download the images for educational purposes, as long as the source of the image is included.

• AccessMedicine Multimedia [UR] - Search or browse the index of videos. To search for images, search your topic and apply the Images filter.
• American Society of Hematology (ASH) Image Bank [Free] - Contains over 2100 images. Free registration required to download images.
• The Cell: An Image Library [Free] - American Society for Cell Biology. The Cell: An Image Library is a freely accessible, easy-to-search, public repository of reviewed and annotated images, videos, and animations of cells from a variety of organisms, showcasing cell architecture, intracellular functionalities, and both normal and abnormal processes.
• ClinicalKey [UR] - Check the Multimedia section.
• Creative Commons Search [Free] - Provides access to multiple image search services. All of the results displayed in this search portal may not be under a Creative Commons license.
• De Humani Corporis Fabrica in Color [Free] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A digital collection of the numerous colored woodcuts in the library’s first edition of De humani corporis fabrica libri septem.
• Health Education Assets Library (HEAL) [Free] -  University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Digital Library. HEAL is a digital repository that allows medical educators to discover, download, and re-use over 22,000 medical education resources. 
• Images from the History of Medicine [Free] - Provides access to images in the prints and photograph collection of the History of Medicine Division of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. The collection includes portraits, pictures of institutions, caricatures, genre scenes, and graphic art in a variety of media, illustrating the social and historical aspects of medicine.
• Kanopy [UR] - Thousands of award-winning documentaries, training films and theatrical releases from leading producers.  
• Lane Medical Library’s Bio-Image Search [Free] - Stanford. A database of biomedical images with Public Domain & Creative Commons licenses from a variety of sources.  It organizes your results by reuse rights.
• LearningRadiology.com - Images [Free] - Developed and maintained by Dr. William Herring and other staff at the Albert Einstein Medical Center.
• MedEdPortal [Free] - Association of American Medical Colleges. MedEdPortal is a free peer-reviewed publication service and repository for medical and oral health teaching materials, assessment tools, and faculty development resources.
• MedPix [Free] - National Library of Medicine. MedPix is a free online medical image database, which includes over 53,000 images from over 13,000 cases. The material is organized by disease category, organ system, and by patient profiles. The teaching file cases are peer-reviewed by an Editorial Panel.
• The New England Journal of Medicine [UR] - Check the Multimedia section. Search or browse over 900 images of common clinical presentations.  These images can be used as an educational tool to help residents and medical students quickly identify common conditions. 
• NIH Image Gallery [Free] - National Institutes of Health. This site includes albums in categories such as scientific images, clinical research, infographics, cancer research, and more.
• OPENi, an Open Access Biomedical Image Search Engine [Free] - National Library of Medicine. Use Openi to locate abstracts and images (including charts, graphs, clinical images, etc.) from the open source literature and biomedical image collections. It provides access to over 1.6 million images from about 580,000 PubMedCentral articles and 7,470 chest x-rays with 3,955 radiology reports.
• Public Health Image Library [Free] - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Public Health Image Library is an organized gateway to the CDC’s photos, illustrations, and multimedia files.
• School of Medicine Library Digital Collections [Free] - University of South Carolina. Includes history of the USC School of Medicine Columbia, historical medical books, and medical pamphlets.
• Specimens [Free] -  A Flickr collection of gross and microscopic images of pathology specimens by Ed Uthman, a Houston pathologist.
• WebPath [Free] - The Internet Pathology Laboratory for Medical Education, Mercer University School of Medicine – Savannah. WebPath contains over 2700 images with text that illustrate gross and microscopic pathologic findings along with radiologic imaging associated with human disease conditions. Also includes tutorials and self-assessment items.
• Yottalook [Free] - A free medical imaging search engine. Over 750,000 images. Developed and maintained by four radiologists.

Create Biomedical Images:

• BioRender - Freemium software that allows you to create professional science figures using pre-made icons. You can create five images for free for educational use, which can be used on class presentations, but not publications.

Infographic and Design Tools:

Video Examples

Video Editing Tools

Podcast Examples

Podcast Editing Tools

• Podcasts 101 Guide - Check out the Podcasts 101 guide for tips and tools to create your own podcast.

Find Music and Sounds

• Freesound 

  Collaborative database of Creative Commons Licensed sounds. Browse, download and share sounds.
• Sound Bible 

  Free sound clips for download.
• FreeSFX 

  Download free sound effects.
• Free Music Archive 

  Interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads.
• ZapSplat 

  Free sound effects and royalty free music.

Cartoon/Comic Examples:

Cartoon/Comic Editing Tools:

• Comic Life -  Software installed on the computers of Instructional Suite A at the Rush Rhees Library.
• Pencil 2D -  Open source tool
• Inkscape - Open source tool
• Synfig - Open source tool
• Pixton  - Free tool

Other popular tools:

• Animaker - Freemium tool 
• Vyond - Free trial
• Powtoon -  Free trial 
• Toon Boom Harmony - Free trial