Dr. Hayat Sindi is a renowned National Geographic Explorer and biotechnologist dedicated to tackling global challenges through innovative research and promoting STEM education, especially among women in developing nations. Hailing from Makkah, Saudi Arabia, Dr. Sindi overcame gender barriers to become the first woman from the Persian Gulf to earn a PhD in biotechnology from Cambridge University in 2001.
“Having been raised in Saudi Arabia, I was fortunate to get this strong foundation of self-belief,” she went on to say. “My culture, family, and faith have all contributed to the foundation. Sindi told Entrepreneur Middle East, “I had a father who could teach me whatever I wanted.”
Working Sindi’s primary goals were to enhance science education, particularly among young women, and biotechnology in underdeveloped countries.
Sindi attended King’s College London, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University. She earned a PhD in biotechnology from Cambridge University in 2001. Sindi became the first woman from the Persian Gulf to get a doctorate. This was one of the first steps she took to break down barriers for women in the Middle East.
Dr. Sindi’s journey includes co-founding Diagnostics for All in 2007, a non-profit organization focused on developing low-cost diagnostic tools for developing regions. Her inventions like the Magnetic Acoustic Resonance Sensors (MARS) have revolutionized rapid disease diagnosis on-site.
Sensors (MARS), which both aid in the rapid and on-site diagnosis of disorders. Sindi launched the Institute for Imagination Ingenuity (i2institute) in 2011, with the goal of encouraging science education and innovation in future generations.
Irina Bokova, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), appointed Sindi as a Goodwill Ambassador in 2012 to promote STEM education, particularly among young women. Sindi was given the award “in recognition of her work to create an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and social innovation for scientists, technologists and engineers in the Middle East and beyond, her efforts to bring the youth closer to innovators and her dedication to the ideals and aims of the organization,” according to a press release issued by UNESCO.
In 2013, in only three years Sindi was chosen as one of the first thirty women to serve on Saudi Arabia’s top consultative body, the Shura Council, after earning her doctorate. According to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the council’s primary responsibility is to “advise the King on issues that are important to Saudi Arabia.”
Sindi is currently employed at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) in Saudi Arabia as a senior advisor to the President of Science, Technology, and Innovation. Every day, Sindi works to encourage young women and Arab women to accomplish their goals. Sindi thinks that science, technology, and innovation can tackle some of the world’s most critical development concerns.
In 2018, she launched the IsDB Transform Fund, worth $500 million, which will help entrepreneurs find solutions to development difficulties through the power of innovation, and it will be the first digital hub of its type in the developing world.
“If anything, I want to have influenced girls to seek careers in science if that is what they are interested in,” Sindi noted in an interview with UNESCO that if one’s position is difficult, thinking outside the box can help them achieve their goals.
