SPOTLIGHT
PROFESSIONAL OF THE MONTH:
HOSAMELDIN ‘SAM’ ELSEMANY, CCE, CBET Destined for HTM
BY K. RICHARD DOUGLAS
S
ome biomeds take a circuitous route to becoming a member of the HTM profession and some get involved with the profession from an early point, realizing that health care and technology are their future.
That was the case for Hosameldin ‘Sam’ Elsemany, CCE, CBET, a clinical engineer in the department of engineering at UConn Health in Farmington, Connecticut. Elsemany’s path to biomed seemed to be perfectly aligned from the start. “My late father, a cargo ship captain who circumnavigated the globe, stimulated my interest in technology and innovation at a young age. During his later struggle with gastric cancer, I would accompany him on hospital visits, and it was there that I was exposed to the sophisticated medical equipment that became a fascination for me. The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) pathway I selected in high school aligned me with my college engineering pursuits,” he says. Elsemany began to network within the burgeoning healthcare technology management (HTM) field to explore opportunities and, over time, discovered biomedical engineering. His biomed education began with an
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associate of science degree from Gateway Community College in New Haven, Connecticut. “I worked full-time to support my family while completing the biomedical engineering technology program. I joined the New England Society of Clinical Engineering (NESCE) as a student member, and this allowed me access to valuable mentoring encounters. I was encouraged to seek out volunteer opportunities in CE (clinical engineering) at local hospitals and found a great fit at a local academic medical center,” Elsemany says. He says that during the 10 weekly hours he volunteered that year, he gained a solid understanding of hospital workflow as well as hands-on experience with preventive maintenance and troubleshooting medical equipment. “This helped me land a position as a field service engineer at a startup company that specialized in refurbishing nuclear medicine imaging devices. I spent two years working with brilliant engineers who trained me on different makes and models of nuclear medicine cameras as we traveled between health centers across the continental U.S. servicing accounts. This experience also provided valuable exposure in terms of customer service, networking, presenta-
tion and communication skills,” Elsemany says. His desire to spend more time with his young family led him to investigate in-state employment options, which resulted in him accepting a clinical engineering specialist II position at Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) in Connecticut. “YNHH’s excellent tuition reimbursement program motivated me to complete my Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical engineering through Purdue University. At the annual AAMI (Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation) conventions, I learned the value of the CBET and coveted CCE certifications and set about obtaining them. These certifications were pivotal to my promotion to senior clinical engineering specialist at YNHH and subsequently clinical engineer/team supervisor at the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC). I am currently completing an MBA degree at UConn alongside full-time employment,” Elsemany says. OPTIMISTIC ABOUT HTM’S FUTURE There are always challenges in the HTM profession and some additional considerations that come with leadership roles. Part of that challenge is to learn the
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