image: Neda Razavi from iSono Health and Ayya Azzahra of CervivAI and colleagues receive top awards at WISH Innovation Competition 2024
Credit: World Innovation Summit for Health
18 November 2024. Doha, Qatar – Ayya Azzahra of CervivAI from Indonesia and Neda Razavi of iSono Health from the United States have been named as the two winners of Qatar Foundation’s World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) 2024 Innovation Competitions. The awards include cash prizes and mentoring sessions with leading industry experts.
The winners were chosen from 12 global healthcare innovators, who had earlier been shortlisted from more than 150 applicants, to showcase their innovations to global policymakers and healthcare leaders at this year’s summit.
The winner of the Young Innovators category (for health startups led by founders aged 30 and younger) is Ayya Azzahra for CervivAI, a company making early detection of cervical cancer accessible with AI-enhanced testing.
The winner in the Innovation Showcases category (for health startups that have moved beyond the ideation phase and have established their market presence within the past five years) is Neda Razavi for iSono Health, a company that develops automated, AI-powered, 3D ultrasound solutions for breast cancer screening.
Commenting on their success, Neda Razavi of iSono Health said: “I’m so proud of this award as it authenticates the importance of early detection of cancers using automation, robotics AI and ultrasound and thus, saving lives, a priority of Qatar’s government.”
Dr Mutiara Auliya of CervivAI said “We have a company of six women, and we want to make our product cheaper, giving access for women living in rural areas.”
Ayya Azzahra added: “I was inspired to work on this project after my friend became very depressed following the death of her mother, who simply could not get access to a gynecologist. After dropping out of medical school for financial reasons, I hope to resume my medical studies, but I don’t need to be a doctor to help people.”
The third member of the winning team, Karmila Putri Maulidya said “As the biomedical engineer I designed the product using 3D modelling.”
This year’s competition benefits from a being delivered in partnership with Qatar Research Development and Innovation Council (QRDI), a Qatari organization dedicated to advancing research, fostering global innovation collaborations and attracting global talent to the Gulf state.
The WISH Innovation program was launched in 2013 and has supported a total of 160 innovators from 41 different countries to date.
This year, WISH was opened in the presence of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation and founder of WISH. The opening ceremony, held at Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha, included speeches from Her Excellency Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Qatar’s former Minister of Public Health; Lord Darzi of Denham, Executive Chair of WISH; and Christos Christou, President of Médecins Sans Frontières.
The theme of WISH 2024 was ‘Humanizing Health: Conflict, Equity and Resilience’. It aims to highlight the need for innovation in health to support everyone, leaving nobody behind and building resilience, especially among vulnerable societies and in areas of armed conflict.
Ahead of the summit, WISH entered into a strategic partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), collaborating on the development of a series of evidence-based reports and policy papers, as well as working with the United Nations’ health agency to develop a post-summit implementation strategy.
The summit features more than 200 experts in health speaking about evidence-based ideas and practices in healthcare innovation to address the world’s most urgent global health challenges.