A Binghamton University professor and her team of students are looking to save lives by helping find the right medicine for patients around the globe.

Nicole Hassoun, an associate professor in the philosophy department, began the Global Health Impact project approximately seven years ago with the mission to give people across the world access to drugs that fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.

With the help of 15 students, Hassoun evaluates medications being used to treat the three diseases. The group works together to gather and study information from the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations aid databases.

The need for drugs is measured by rates of death and disability caused by an illness. Supply is measured by comparing the amount of people in need of medication to the amount of people who have access to it. Effectiveness reflects how successful the drug is at treating a disease.

“People are dying because they can’t access medication, so we need to know where we’re having an impact and where we need to have an impact still,” Hassoun said. “Hopefully this can help health systems planning, distribution of resources and trying to have a bigger impact as a mechanism.”

Hassoun said that she hopes the Global Health Impact project will be a tool in guiding the distribution of medical resources and evaluating drug effectiveness and distribution. Currently, she said, the TB Alliance and the WHO are two major companies taking advantage of the information.

“Ultimately the impact is that it affects medicine,” Hassoun said. “Someone picks it up and makes it useful, and does something with it to have a difference.”

In the future, Hassoun said that she plans to expand the amount of diseases covered and recruit volunteers with more technological experience. She also wants to update Global Health Impact’s website and reach out to other universities to get involved.

When she initially started the project, Hassoun received $10,000 of funding from the University. But seven years later, this support has almost run out and she funds the project mainly through her personal research budget from the University. She said she hopes students will continue to work with her on a volunteer basis.

Cassie Mak, an undeclared freshman and a volunteer for the Global Health Impact project, manages the project’s social media accounts and reaches out to groups on campus to raise awareness.

“We’re trying to build campus interest,” Mak said. “We really want to reach out to different health groups, different fraternities, the CDCI, so that they know what we’re doing, so that other students can work with our organization.”

In April, Global Health Impact will be hosting a conference to raise awareness about the cause. Speakers and workshops will help illustrate the future of the organization and ways that students can get involved.

Alex Yung, a freshman majoring in business and a member of Hassoun’s team, became interested in the project last semester. He said that the group needs more members to be able to increase efficiency.

“It’s definitely difficult — we’re kind of lacking on man power,” Yung said. “But we’ve made a lot of progress. If you’ve seen our database, our websites, it’s definitely getting a lot better.”