User:Nsimsam

User data

Name	Noor Simsam
Affiliations	Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Location	London, ON
Nationality
Languages	English, Arabic
Email	noorsimsamuwoca
Registered	2025

"If access to health care is considered a human right, who is considered human enough to have that right?" - Dr. Paul Farmer

Noor H. Simsam is currently an MD Candidate at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, and 1 of 21 global fellows at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). She holds an MSc from McMaster University (Hamilton, ON), and an Honors BHSc from Western University (London, ON).

Having emigrated from Syria, she witnessed the devastating impact of war on healthcare systems. She felt a deep sense of urgency to pursue solutions for low-resource settings. These experiences, along with her Masters’ thesis on diagnostic inequity and patient advocacy work sparked her interest in frugal biomedical engineering (BME) and open-source (OS) technology.

The shift towards a more intuitive and efficient OS otoscope redesign resulted in 75% reduction in assembly time (2hr to 0.5hr) and 46% decrease in labour costs.

Advancing Ear Care with Open-Source Otoscopes in Low-Resource Pacific Island Setting

An ongoing quality-improvement project aiming increase the percentage of patients with ear-related symptoms who receive a documented ear exam at Hawai’i Island Community Health Centre (HICHC) by ≥10 percentage points from baseline after deploying OS otoscopes. The project begins with the distribution of pre-assembled otoscopes and ultimately aims to establish local manufacturing, fostering a self-sustaining and community-driven initiative.

Manufacturing OS tourniquets and stethoscopes for humanitarian aid in low-resource settings. These projects fostered hands-on experience in FreeCAD design, 3D printing, device assembly, quality assurance, and packaging.

Class II medical device projects, OS ECG and pulse oximeter, offered exposure to research protocols and regulatory processes, encompassing cost analysis, production scaling, clinical validation, and government authorization for manufacturing and distribution.

A preliminary design and prototype for an oscillometric blood pressure monitor using a Raspberry Pi Pico. While the solution was not cost-competitive, it yielded significant experiential learning and contributed to a deeper understanding of biomedical signal acquisition and processing techniques.

Simsam NH, Abuhamad R, Azzam K. Equity-Driven Diagnostic Excellence framework: An upstream approach to minimize risk of diagnostic inequity. Diagnosis (Berl). 2025;12(3):358-364. Published 2025 Mar 3. doi:10.1515/dx-2024-0160