About the Foundation

The Melanoma Education Foundation is a non-profit preventive health organization that saves lives by promoting greater awareness of melanoma and the importance of early self-detection. The Foundation evolved from a father’s web site tribute to his son, Dan Fine of Peabody, who died of melanoma in 1998 at the age of 26, and was incorporated as a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization in Massachusetts in August, 2000.

Adrianna Manzi (L) and Mary Gill (R) are melanoma survivors. Because they received our melanoma lesson in their schools, they found their melanomas early and avoided what otherwise could have been unimaginable tragedies.

Our vision is to create a melanoma-free world through education. Our mission is to inspire people to implement life-long habits for self-detection and prevention of skin cancer.

Melanoma is unique among cancers. It is the easiest of all cancers to self-detect at an early stage when it is easily curable by simple excision in an outpatient setting. But when not caught early enough it is among the most malignant and incurable of all cancers. Because melanoma risk jumps dramatically in the mid-20s age group, high schools are ideal venues for educating teens about melanoma but we found that most high school wellness teachers were also uneducated about melanoma and often did not include the subject in health classes at all.

The Foundation seeks to continue and expand middle and high school educational services (see the list of the schools), to serve as a resource for health educators in the subject of skin cancer education, and to promote greater public awareness. Revenue for services is provided primarily by individual contributions, proceeds from special events, and grants from corporations and foundations.

To learn more about the foundation, including our upcoming events, please visit us at skincheck.org.