About VascularGuide
VascularGuide is a nonprofit clinical learning platform and toolkit dedicated to improving vascular screening, triage, and shared decision-making across primary care and specialty settings. The site provides evidence-informed screening tools, clinical calculators, and decision aids that are designed to be practical and easy to use for clinicians and trainees.
We continue to expand the website and its tools in response to clinical feedback and evolving evidence. All tools are developed with reference to current literature, validated guidelines, and in consultation with family physicians and vascular specialists.. VascularGuide's objective is to increase appropriate screening uptake, supporting earlier identification of at-risk patients, and to foster informed, patient-centred discussions about management options.
The tools on VascularGuide are not a substitute for individualized patient care and clinical judgment. Clinicians should always interpret results in the context of the full clinical picture and current clinical guidelines.
Founder
Shireen Fikree, is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Toronto and the founder of VascularGuide.com. She holds a Master of Science in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University and has led registry-based research investigating sex-based disparities in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) outcomes. This work reflects her broader interest in women's health advocacy and improving how sex-specific factors influence access to care and health outcomes. Her scholarship also includes work on diabetic foot care and patient perspectives on limb preservation; these projects have been presented at both international and national meetings. Through this work, she has developed a strong interest in patient-centered approaches to chronic wound care and limb preservation.
Shireen created VascularGuide.com to translate research and clinical experience into accessible tools that support screening, education, and shared decision-making. She is especially interested in how digital tools can enhance patient education and treatment adherence for chronic wounds and skin conditions, including diabetic foot ulcers. Given that there was a lack of vascular decision aids and after witnessing numerous patients being missed for AAA screening in primary care, she developed the first-ever interactive AAA screening tool. Guided by clinician feedback, the website has grown to include additional calculators and now serves as a learning platform for trainees and a resource for physicians worldwide. She is actively developing new tools, with the ultimate goal of growing VascularGuide.com into a collaborative community where users come to learn and share their experiences.
Privacy
We take user privacy and data security seriously. Connections to VascularGuide are secured using industry-standard encryption (HTTPS/TLS) to protect information transmitted between your browser and our site. The platform does not collect or retain patient-identifiable information: inputs entered into calculators and decision aids are de-identified (anonymous) and are not stored on our servers.
Where technically possible, algorithmic processing and calculations are performed client-side (in your browser). This means that clinical inputs remain local to your device and are not transmitted to VascularGuide servers for storage or processing. We do not retain logs of user inputs tied to patient identifiers.