Dr. Hayat Sindi, PhD

Dr. Hayat Sindi was born in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. She is one of the world’s leading biotechnologists, a member of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board created by H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, and the founder and CEO of the i2 Institute for Imagination and Ingenuity, a non-profit organization that seeks to create an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and social innovation for scientists, technologists and engineers in the Middle East. 

She worked against the odds to become the first female from the Arabian Gulf to earn a PhD in biotechnology, studying at King’s College London, Cambridge, MIT and Harvard. Since then, she has been recognized as a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, a Global Ambassador for Vital Voices, and has been listed among the 10 Most Powerful Arab Women by Arabian Business magazine, among the 50 Most Powerful Arabs by Gulf Business Magazine and as one of the world’s 150 Fearless Women by Newsweek/The Daily Beast. She was also the first person to be recognized as a Pop!Tech fellow in both Science and Social Innovation. As a global role model in Science, she has been nominated in 2012 and 2013 as a member of the Nifty Fifty program of the prestigious USA Science and Engineering Festival.

In November 2013, Dr. Sindi was awarded the Arabian Business Achievement Award for Medicine. In 2012 H.E. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO appointed her as the first Goodwill Ambassador for Sciences. Dr. Sindi is also the winner of the Mekkah Al Mukaram prize for Scientific Innovation, given by H.R.H. Prince Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud.

Dr. Sindi is also the co-founder of Diagnostics For All, which offers cost-effective point-of-care diagnostic tools enabling the treatment of 60% of people living beyond the reach of medical infrastructures.