Overview
SAM is a healthcare app developed by Almirall in collaboration with 27 dermatology experts across Europe.
The product was designed to digitize clinical case sharing, enabling a global community of dermatologists to exchange knowledge through interactive, visual medical content.
Operating within a highly regulated medical environment, the initiative required balancing clinical accuracy, usability, compliance, and product scalability.
The objective: Design and launch a tablet-first version of the app for Apple Store and Google Play, improving usability while aligning with medical, legal, and business constraints.
My Role: Project Manager & UX Lead, responsible for:
Structuring product discovery with clinical experts
Translating complex medical workflows into intuitive digital interactions
Aligning cross-functional stakeholders across clinical, legal, and technical domains
Defining the user experience and preparing the product for launch
Key Stakeholders
Scientific Committee (27 Dermatologists)
Marketing & Product
CTO & Engineering
Medical & Legal Advisors
PR & Communications
Users & Insights
Target users: Dermatologists specialized in Psoriasis.
To deeply understand their needs, we established a Digital Scientific Committee of 27 dermatologists across Europe, creating a structured feedback loop throughout development.
Following the beta release, we conducted remote usability testing and interviews to evaluate real-world usage.
Key Insights
The clinical case creation flow lacked clarity
Data entry was perceived as time-intensive
App performance affected usability
These issues directly impacted adoption, content contribution, and long-term engagement.
Other key points to improve
Key Frictions & Strategic Response
Clinical case creation flow was confusing
Users reported getting lost after the 3 steps process. They were presented with the edition mode but most of them didn’t know what to do next.
In order to better understand the flow, we reproduced the current app flow.
Together with some doctors, the medical and communication team, we did some changes.
After some iterations, the 3 step process was removed, in order to reduce the confusion when arrived at the edition pannel.
Instead, users had now to follow the tabs to create a timepoint, making them better understand the overall functioning of the edition mode.
Below you can see the second version of the flow:
2. Data input was time-consuming
Clinical case creation required significant manual input — a critical barrier given physicians’ limited time.
The priority was clear: reduce input effort without compromising medical rigor.
Strategic Actions
Replaced long, scroll-based variable lists with intelligent search functionality
Introduced optional free-text fields for flexibility
Defaulted expandable sections to reduce unnecessary clicks
This reduced cognitive load and streamlined case submission.
3. Performance Limitations
High-resolution 3D avatars and 4K lesion rendering negatively impacted performance across devices, affecting usability and adoption.
Rather than simplifying the visual experience, we introduced adaptive performance controls.
Strategic Actions
Implemented adjustable resolution settings (2K / 3K / 4K)
Developed device-based resolution detection to auto-optimize performance
Added transparent minimum system requirements to set user expectations
This preserved visual quality while improving speed and accessibility.
Impact
Launched across platforms.
200k+ engaged users.
ASPID Innovation Award.
Established a scalable, performance-optimized framework for digital clinical collaboration.