Hayat Sindi

Hayat Sindi is a leading biotechnologist and a champion of science and technology in the Middle East. She holds a degree in pharmacology with honors from King’s College London (1995) and was the first woman from the Gulf to obtain a PhD in biotechnology from Cambridge University (2001). She is the co-founder of Diagnostics For All, a non-profit organization which creates innovative, inexpensive, point-of-care diagnostic devices for people in impoverished regions. In 2011, she launched i2, the Institute for imagination and Ingenuity, to encourage innovation among young people, specifically male and female scientists, technologists and engineers. In 2013, Sindi was one of the first 30 women to be appointed to the Saudi Arabia’s highest consultative body, the Shura Council. She holds various prestigious expert and advisory positions. Amongst others, she is a member of the newly constituted UN Scientific Advisory Board (UNSAB), a Goodwill Ambassador for Sciences at UNESCO, a member of the Science and Innovation advisory council of Malaysia and, since 2017, a Senior advisor on Science, Technology and Innovation to the President of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).