Start-ups and Healthcare Disruptions

His Excellency Dr. Jamal Mohammed Al Kaabi is the Undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DOH), having previouslyoccupied prominent roles in Government operations followinghis experience in the military. Dr. Al Kaabi began his career in healthcare at HAAD (currently DoH), where he held the position of Section Head of Health Audit – Facilities, before being promoted to Head of Customer Services & Corporate Communications. In March 2014, Dr. Al Kaabi was appointed to work in the office of theVice President of the Executive Council, as a consultant to the healthcare sector,before taking on the role of Director of Social Developmentat the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. In July 2015, he moved to the General Secretariat of the Executive Council as Director of the Social Development Sector. Following this, in 2018, he was appointed Executive Director of Government Affairs. The following year, he served as Director General of the Abu Dhabi Executive Office. In February 2020, Dr. Al Kaabi moved to the Department of Finance (DOF), where he held the position of Director General of Governmental Affairs. In addition to his vast expertise in the government sector, Dr. Al Kaabi, presented a number of Arabic TV programmes, including the “Think about Health” and the “Oxygen”programmes on Abu Dhabi TV, in addition to the “Green Apple” show on MBC. Dr. Al Kaabi is a graduate of UAE University with a bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery. He also holds a master’s degree in Public Health and Leadership from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States of America.

Dr. Louiza (Pharm D, MBA, Ph.D.) has 10+ years of experience in Healthcare, Pharma, Biotech and Digital Health industries in Asia (China) and the Middle East & Africa. Over the last 5 years in the UAE, she was responsible for assisting government institutions and private players in the biotech/pharma sector to strengthen their vaccine manufacturing capabilities across the MEA region and Pakistan. She is also the co-founder of a Digital Health venture “ Magikcraft ” that develops health education videogames for Type 1 Diabetes and other diseases (cystic fibrosis, Type 2 Diabetes). Prior to that, she spent 8 years in China for her postgraduate studies and her early professional career in the recruitment industry for an Australian recruitment firm in Shanghai, helping F500 companies in the healthcare/Pharma sector find the best talent and expand in the Greater China area. She is currently the head of the MENA Health Tech Program at Plug and Play ADGM where, in Partnership with the Department of Health, she is working to develop the Digital Health Ecosystem in Abu Dhabi and across the MENA Region. Her role is to understand the specific challenges faced by the healthcare providers, payers, regulators and private Pharma/Biotech/Medical devices MENA Region, and provide tailored services from scouting the best digital technologies worldwide, ensure their market fit here and render them available for deployment here. Furthermore, she assists key healthcare stakeholders here to be able to absorb the new technologies these startups can provide by offering a series of educational workshops, seminars and roundtable discussions around digital transformation and corporate innovation. Given her extensive academic and professional experience across MEASA in the Biotech and Pharma industries, in conjunction with her passion for tech, this makes her well-positioned to understand the challenges of this region and find the technological tools best fit to address them. Dr. Louiza’s passion lies in digital health, entrepreneurship, social impact and community service.

David spearheads the team in fulfilling Binah.ai’s vision and mission. A seasoned speaker and international industry leader, David is a serial entrepreneur who has taken numerous start-ups from vision to international success: Hexatier (acquired by Huawei), Precos, Vanadium-soft, GreenCloud, Teridion and others. Binah.ai is his 13th start-up where David sets the strategy and manages the execution of the company’s mission to enable healthcare services to anyone, anywhere.

Jamie has over 20 years of experience in the medical device industry, building successful sales infrastructure and driving growth on a global scale. Prior to joining ResApp in April this year, hespent three years as International Sales Director with MolecuLight, who’s lead product is a CE Marked handheld point-of-care wound imaging device. However, the majority of Jamie’s career was spent at Olympus Medical where he held a number of senior sales and marketing roles in the UK, Middle East and Africa.

Friedrich Lämmel is the CEO of Thryve – Europes leading provider for continous health data from wearables, medical devices and other sources. Thryve’s technology enables digital health services, insurers and care providers to access data of more then 300 data sources to get a better understanding of their users’ individual health. Prior to Thryve, he helped setup bespoke eCommerce solutions for multinational corporates from Retail, Fashion, Telecommunications and Entertainment. As a studied economist with a focus on entrepreneurship and international business relations, he worked and lived in several countries in Europe and Latin America.

Dr. Ali Mostashari is a Co-Founder and the CEO of LifeNome (https://www.lifenome.com), a precision health platform headquartered in New York City, powered by Genomics AI technology. LifeNome is the leading science-based personalized health and wellbeing platform for global enterprises and has been recognized as a Global Innovator company by the World. Dr. Mostashari has served as a Member of the Futures Councils of the World Economic Forum and is among the top 20 cited scholars in the world in Complexity Science. Prior to LifeNome, Dr. Mostashari served as a Program Chair and Director of the Global Smart Cities Consortium at Stevens Institute of Technology. Between 2004-2008, he served as the strategic resource manager for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) overseeing a development projects portfolio of over $1.2 Billion in 44 sub-Saharan African countries.

Dr. Ramadan AlBlooshi is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dubai Healthcare City Authority – Regulatory (DHCR) Dr Ramadan holds a Masters’ degree in business administration (MBA) from the Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, and in Science (gastroenterology) from the Queen Mary University, London, UK. In addition, he holds an Executive Diploma in Public Administration from the National University of Singapore. He is a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and a participant of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Program for Leadership Development (MBRPLD), an innovative leadership program designed to develop future national leaders capable of promoting the sustainable development of Dubai. Prior to joining in October 2014, Dr Ramadan was the Director of the Health Regulation Department at Dubai Health Authority (DHA). Committed to raising the standards of healthcare delivery, played an instrumental role in establishing clinical governance in the emirate. He was also tasked with leading medical tourism strategy and setting up policies in healthcare practice in both government and private sectors. His journey into governance was preceded by clinical roles – three years as internist with the UAE Ministry of Health (MOH) and two years as a gastroenterologist at Rashid Hospital. In his career, he has demonstrated expertise in areas including registration, regulation of facilities and professionals, inspection of healthcare facilities, customer care, polices and standards, complaints management, health informatics and medical tourism.

Emily Hill is a Senior Vice President at Mubadala Healthcare and was appointed as Head of Strategy for Mubadala Healthcare in 2018 to lead strategic planning, portfolio diversification and transformational initiatives for Mubadala’s healthcare portfolio, a multibillion dollar investment portfolio of healthcare provision assets. Emily also actively supports Mubadala Healthcare’s Quality Patient Safety and the Research, Innovation and Education Board Committees. In 2020, Emily has supported the development of Mubadala’s Life Sciences strategy and supporting Abu Dhabi stakeholders in related initiatives. Emily first joined Mubadala Healthcare in 2011 and has held the several roles at Mubadala Healthcare in portfolio business development and strategic planning, as well as, asset management for Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. Emily has a Bachelor’s in International Political Economy from Boston University, and a MBA from Babson F.W. Olin School of Business, with a specialization in Management of Technology Intensive Enterprise. Previously, Emily worked in Boston, Massachusetts for Pfizer, Inc. for six years in sales and portfolio management for the neuro-psychiatry division, managing the largest volume and revenue account in the nation. Emily supports global health, women’s leadership and environmental causes. Emily is a proud mother of two children and enjoys travel, reading and yoga.

Dr. Bhaskar Dasgupta is the Associate Director of Business Development at ADGM focusing on financial services across Emerging Markets and Europe. Dr. Dasgupta is responsible for overseeing the development of the banking, asset management, private banking sectors including key areas such as Crypto Assets, FinTech, Re‐Insurance, Sustainable Finance, Digital Banking and Digital Investment Management in ADGM. Prior to joining ADGM in 2019, Dr. Dasgupta was the Chief Operating Officer of UK Export Finance at the Department of International Trade, UK Government. His 25 year career included senior level business development and transformation roles in investment banking, transaction banking, technology and consulting in firms such as HSBC, ABN AMRO, Citigroup and PwC. Dr. Dasgupta holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Bhopal, an MBA in Finance from Indore University, a PhD in Financial Modelling & AI from the University of Manchester, and a PhD in Politics from Kings College London. He is currently completing a PhD in Food History from Brunel University.

Hamzeh joined Hikma Ventures in August 2016 and worked on closing 10 Digital Health deals in North America, serving as an observer board member on 4 of these companies. Prior to that, Hamzeh was part of the Corporate Treasury team at Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK). He also held various finance roles at Phillips Morris International and Capital Investments in Amman, Jordan. After graduating from the George Washington University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Business Administration majoring in Finance, Hamzeh helped organize TedxDeadSea in Jordan. He was also the Co-Founder of a social networking platform based in Madrid, Spain.

Salvatore Lavallo is the Acting Head of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)at the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO). Prior to joining ADIO, Salvatore has held roles across an eclectic range of industries and organisations. Salvatore started his career with Invest in Bavaria before founding Trail of Seeds – an NGO promoting culturally inclusive development around the world. He has also held positions at McKinsey and Company, Akemi Venture Partners and, most recently, acted as an advisor for the Tony Blair Institute. Salvatore also holds the distinct honour of having travelled to every country of the world – one of the youngest ever to do so – as part of his “193Journeys” project where he shared images and stories with over 100k social media followers. The project was featured in Conde Nast, CNN, the New York Post and more. Salvatore holds an International Baccalaureate from the United World College as well as a B.A. in Culturally Inclusive Development from New York University where he was the recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar for Devotion to Service and President’s Service Award.

KoveyKovalan’s life principal is impossible reads “I’m-Possible®.”He is an inventor and innovator with a passion for technology in the areas of visualization, artificial intelligence, graphics processing unit (GPU), and high-performance computing cloud. He bootstrapped, built and patented LifeVoxel.AI technology and deployed it at healthcare settings at imaging centers and hospitals. His past work experience includes Lead Software Developer for 3D Medical Imaging at Fujifilm Medical System, Principal Engineer at ORICON acquired by Lockheed Martin, and others. Kovey grew up in Malaysia and came to the US to further his education. Graduating from The Ohio State University with a Masters in Computer Science led him to multiple software engineering positions, one of which landed at Fujifilm Medical Systems. When the opportunity to provide better care for patients emerged, he left a stable career to pursue a lifelong calling to become an entrepreneur. LifeVoxel.AI was founded in 2007 when the US economy began to tank. Under his leadership, he bootstrapped to build the technology platform using consulting income, personal savings, family and friends funds, a prestigious National Science Foundation and other government grants. He obtained fourteen international patents, FDA clearance, and HIPAA compliance for the technology. The technology has been honored with North America Technology Innovation Award from Frost and Sullivan. He was invited and participated in Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) Innovation Summit. The AMD Innovation Summit showcases high growth software companies, including the latest in next generation gaming, Big Data and datacenter technologies. AMD is the second-largest supplier to Intel in the market for x86-based microprocessors. Both AMD and its competitor NVIDIA have dominated the GPU market. Kovey has built a leap inproprietary cloud for artificial intelligence and visualization using gaming technology for managing, viewing, and sharing large records online that solves critical challenges in the healthcare market and deployed using only a web browser. For this innovation, he holds fourteen patents, and the intellectual property list is growing. Customers are currently using and paying for the system and he can now grow the business by scaling sales.

Milo is a Business Development Executive at Infermedica, who joined the company in 2015 just before its global expansions started. He is a young professional passionate about technology and the future of healthcare. In his work, Milo is helping Infermedica to deliver tailored AI medical solutions to crucial business partners all over the world, such as Microsoft or Al-Habib Medical Group.

Adam Odessky is the founder and CEO of Sensely, a virtual assistant platform with commercial usage across the insurance, pharmaceutical, and healthcare industries. An expert in voice interfaces and conversation design, Adam’s background includes roles at Oracle, Microsoft, Scient, and TellMe Networks. Adam is a listed inventor on multiple issued patents in the areas of user interface systems, gestural authentication, and augmented reality. Adam holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA from the University of San Francisco. When he’s not working, Adam can be found touring San Francisco’s best coffee shops, banging out Metallica guitar solos, or running after his young children.

Fadi Haddad is an entrepreneur with 12 years of business experience in sales, marketing, and go-to-market strategies. Prior to joining Medicus, Fadi founded a startup in the direct-to-consume space, and prior to that, he held various positions with startups and corporates in Dubai, Singapore, Mexico City and Vienna. Fadi first joined Medicus AI as a consultant in 2018 which allowed him to dive deeper into Medicus’ industry transforming technology and the impact it will have on the world. He then officially joined the team in 2019 heading up global business expansion with the goal of enabling people everywhere to understand their health better.

Kai Ling Ting leads innovation at Etihad Aviation Group, with a strategic focus on organisational capability development and culture change, accelerated innovation delivery and external partnerships. In her current role, she has conceptualised, designed and delivered Etihad’s innovation lab which provides seed funding, resources, streamlined governance and shelter to incubate promising ideas and accelerate the delivery of innovative projects for the organisation. In partnership with Microsoft, she launched MENA’s first ever in-house AI Academy for Etihad employees in early 2019. She also leads Etihad’s involvement as the founding anchor partner for Startup Runway, Abu Dhabi’s travel and hospitality accelerator programme delivered by Plug and Play ADGM. She is passionate about innovation that drives business value and is a firm believer in the power of partnerships, both internally and externally, to deliver change. Prior to joining Etihad, Kai Ling worked in strategic project management and marketing in Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

Baher is a dentist by study and a serial entrepreneur by practice, with 14 years experience in a broad spectrum of disciplines including product & technology, business, sales and marketing. Before Medicus AI, Baher founded CloudAppers digital agency in Dubai 2008 with 100+ projects under its belt, from which he stepped down in 2015 to start Medicus AI. He also founded napkin startup studio in 2012 with $850,000 in funding, that prototyped, built and launched many products, 3 of which were spun off as standalone companies. Most successful of them is Wally, a smart personal finance app that become no.1 finance app in 22 countries and currently has millions of users around the world

With his extensive background in healthcare management, Mr. Majd Abu Zant brings a wealth of international and regional experience to UEMedical’s network of hospitals and clinics in his role as the Chief Operating Officer. Since joining in 2007, he has been the driving force behind numerous successful collaborations with leading international healthcare providers, creating strong clinical partnerships and establishing world-class facilities in the UAE and KSA. In his current role at UEMedical, Mr. Abu Zant oversees the organization’s overall strategy and effective operations. Moreover, he is the CEO of HealthPlus Network of Specialty Centers, part of UEMedical group, which has started with a single outpatient specialty center in 2010; and has expanded to include a chain of leading IVF centers in UAE and KSA, a number of family clinics and highly specialized centers in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Prior to joining UEMedical, Mr. Abu Zant was Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Director of Support Services at King Hussain Cancer Center, one of the most prominent cancer institutions in the region. Mr. Abu Zant holds a Master’s degree in Healthcare Management from the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland (RCSI) and a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Immunology from McGill University, Canada.

Fodhil Benturquia is the Founder & CEO of Okadoc, the GCC’s leading healthtech startup with the mission to improve the healthcare experience for all. Under his leadership, Okadoc was named 2019 Arabian Business Start-up of the Year, Healthcare Innovator of the Year at the 2019 Entrepreneur Magazine’s Agility Awards and International Healthtech Start-up of the Year by CV Magazine He was named among the GCC’s top 100 inspiring leaders of 2019 by Arabian Business magazine and listed in the same magazine’s 40 top entrepreneurs and business leaders under 40. Fodhil is a veteran of the technology ecosystem in the region having co-founded MarkaVIP in 2010 and later joining the core team of Souq.com where he launched the Deal of the Day and rose to become the company’s head of Saudi Arabia, Souq.com’s largest market. In 2015, Fodhil was appointed Group CEO of Noon.com where he built the company from the ground-up to become one of the largest e-commerce players in the region. After a frustrating personal experience booking a doctor’s appointment, Fodhil founded Okadoc with a vision to leverage technology to simplify and improve the broken patient experience while at the same time improving operational efficiency for healthcare providers. Okadoc is the region’s first instant online appointment booking platform that seamlessly connects healthcare providers and doctors with their patients. Patients can use Okadoc to find in-network (insurance) doctors across any location, specialty, language spoken, or gender and view real-time availabilities, instantly book appointments, receive reminders, reschedule, cancel or even request earlier availability. For healthcare providers, Okadoc provides both a 24/7 intelligent medical calendar system and a fully interoperable solution that integrates with most hospital information systems. Okadoc helps doctors, clinics, and hospitals reduce ‘no-shows’, optimize their bookings, attract and engage new patients.

Dr Al Mannaei plays a prominent role in the Department of Health and has overseen a transformation in patient care quality and safety. With the introduction of JAWDA Program in 2014, quality in Abu Dhabi took a leap towards building a quality of healthcare culture across the sector, while positioning Abu Dhabi as a global leader in Medical Tourism. The establishment of Abu Dhabi Healthcare Quality Index (Muashir) that provide star rating of healthcare provider performance based on the best international quality practices. Aspiring to raise the bar for the healthcare performance, Dr. Al Mannaei worked on developing an enabling ecosystem to allow revolutionary treatments and latest health technologies to be introduced in Abu Dhabi, in partnership with Advanced Technology Counsel, Department of Economic Development, Abu Dhabi Global Market, PlugAndPlay Dr Asma Healthtech hub linking healthcare research with industry. She is also leading the establishment of Abu Dhabi Drug and Medical products Authority that will accelerate the adoption of novel medications and technologies for a better healthcare Quality in Abu Dhabi.

Willie heads the Business Performance Improvement unit at Mediclinic Middle East, which forms part of Mediclinic International, a private healthcare services group consisting of 77 hospitals, five sub-acute hospitals, 15 day-case clinics and 22 outpatient clinics. Mediclinic Middle East operates seven hospitals, two day-case clinics and 19 outpatient clinics with more than 900 inpatient beds in the United Arab Emirates. Willie’s career at Mediclinic began 25 years ago at a small-town hospital in South Africa. With a background in finance, Willie’s journey with Mediclinic includes hospital administration and financial management, corporate funder relations, and commercial management. His current position sees him exploring and leading a range of projects and initiatives focused on process efficiencies, business development, digitalisation, and innovation.

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Dr Ann joined SEHA in June 2019 to lead the organization-wide Transformation program, supporting the development of high quality, sustainable and connected care for patients. She was previously Director of Strategy at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, including the lead for Tech Transfer. Prior to this as Director of OperationsDr Ann worked on the development of the Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC), which was designated by the Department of Health as one of only six AHSCs in the UK in 2014. Dr Ann has extensive experience in private and public healthcare where she has developed models of care in areas such as trauma and cardiovascular disease. As the governance and organizational restructuring lead for one of the largest and most successful NHS mergers she has designed resilient, and cost-effective operating models. In a national patient safety role, Dr Ann worked with big data to analyse adverse and sentinel events reported by all NHS organizations, to improve learning and foster a culture of patient safety. She qualified as an Occupational Therapist and holds an MSc in Clinical Evaluation and a PhD on the subject of Healthcare Mergers, Performance and People.

Babak has 10+ years of experience working in technology, construction, financial services and education sectors in the UK, Germany, France, and UAE. He is currently a Co-founder/Director at Plug and Play ADGM where he engages with private and public sector entities to support them in meeting their digital innovation and aiding them in connection. and collaborating with exceptional tech startups/scale-ups. He has supported the successful launch of two open innovation platforms in Berlin (for Energy & Sustainability) and Paris (for Smart Cities). Babak has moved back to the UAE to support and develop Plug and Play’s existing and future partnerships in the MENA region. Babak and his team are proud to support the development of the Abu Dhabi, UAE and MENA tech ecosystems with Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) by building bridges between corporations, government entities, startups, and investors. Within 18 months, Babak and his team have established three Open Innovation Platforms servicing key stakeholders in the Health, Financial Services, and Travel/Tourism sectors. The Plug and Play ADGM’s vision is to enable the MENA region to be a destination of choice for tech entrepreneurs and startups and a globally recognized tech hub. To meet this end, the mission is to create an open and frictionless B2B marketplace for local and international startups, by supporting corporations and government entities in their innovation/digital transformation journey. Babak is extremely motivated to see the region unlock its potential as a hub of technology and innovation. His previous experience in the tech domain includes playing a key role in the launch and growth of a high impact tech incubator which is now in 6 countries and founded 200 startups with a combined portfolio value of $1.5bn. He was also a founding member of a Rocket Internet startup in London in 2012. Having been an award-winning teacher and an Ambassador of Teach For All/Teach First, Babak is a founding board member for a social enterprise in the UK which has helped over 300k students to be inspired and motivated by tech and industry leaders – something Babak hopes to replicate in the UAE. Babak’s passion lies in teaching, entrepreneurship, investment, and technology.