Ten healthcare innovators from around the world were invited by the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) to showcase their work at the upcoming WISH 2018 summit, following a competition to find innovators under the age of 30 who have developed a novel health-related product.

The WISH Young Innovators programme provides a platform for tomorrow’s most promising healthcare leaders to present their innovations to delegates of WISH 2018, which will be held in Doha from 13-14 November. This year’s Young Innovators represent ten countries including Qatar, Syria, Kuwait, Switzerland, Russia, the UK, Malaysia, Uganda, Sweden, and the US.

WISH Young Innovators
Munira Aden and Dalal Al Sharshani

Among the winners are Qatar-based Munira Aden, who works as a nurse at Sidra Medicine, and Dalal Al Sharshani, also a nurse at Hamad Medical Corporation. Together, the two young healthcare professionals created iCommunicate, which uses cards with Arabic and English words written on them to help patients communicate. Aden and Al Sharshani are studying Master of Science in Genomics and Precision Medicine at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. They developed their idea during a module on entrepreneurship offered as part of their master’s degree programme.

According to Al Sharshani, differences in language, especially in a hospital, can cause misunderstanding between patients and nurses, which could negatively affect the patient outcomes and quality of care delivery. They created the communication cards because of this concern.

Other 2018 winners are Yaman Abou Jieb, who created PenCam, a high-resolution camera connected with a mobile phone application to help blind people read and write; Ahmed Nabeel, who created Aquscope, a surgical laparoscope that automates the cleanup process and reduces time spent on surgeries; and Allen Mohammadi, whose Heartstrings is a non-invasive and low-cost technology for screening and early diagnosis of heart disease.

WISH CEO Sultana Afdhal said they are proud to celebrate the spirit of innovation by offering these young entrepreneurs and innovators a unique opportunity to meet leading health experts, policy and decision makers from around the world. She said that WISH provides a gateway for the young innovators to network as well as develop and promote their ideas.

Doha-Healthcare-WeekThis year’s cohort has impressed us with their ingenuity and we are confident that their talent and commitment to global healthcare will help bring about positive change for the many people around the world who will benefit from their innovations in the future.’

WISH 2018 will see 2,000 global health experts and policymakers gather in Doha for the latest instalment of the WISH Summit. The summit will explore a range of pressing global healthcare issues through a series of thought-provoking panel discussions. Innovators and their innovations will be on showcase through the WISH Innovation Hub. This year’s summit will be preceded by a week of healthcare-related events across Doha during the Doha Healthcare Week, which runs on 6 to 12 November.

For further information about WISH, visit www.wish.org.qa and follow @WISHQatar on Twitter.