Current Work:
Chief Business Development Officer, Kuwait Life Sciences Company
I believe that the future of healthcare is approaching the singularity of coalescing the physical world with the digital.
Describe what you do.
I am currently part of a team that manages over 100 million dollars in assets under management including local, regional and international investments across the healthcare industry. These include strong pillars of the local Middle East life sciences ecosystem such as the region’s premiere pharmaceutical licensing and distribution platform.Through our parent company, NTEC, we have also invested and co-invested with some of the world’s top life science venture capital funds including, New Leaf Venture Partners in New York, Wellington Partners in Munich and Kearny Venture Partners and Presidio Partners both of which are based in San Francisco.
I am also an advisor to the central Kuwaiti government where I work on Healthcare, Education and Entrepreneurial reforms as part of Kuwait’s 100 billion dollar Development Plan.
How did you become interested in Healthcare? What drew you in?
The honest truth is that I was forced into it by my father. It is the dream of every Arab father to have a doctor (or an engineer) as a son.
I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. I absolutely loathed that question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I guess that my encyclopedia reading inner nerd just wanted to scream out “I will grow up in the future, who knows what jobs will exist then?” Instead I just mumbled “I dunno.” But, I do remember one day, driving down the fourth ring road on my way to school, passing by the Kuwait University Medical Campus, saying to my dear mother, I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, but I do know that I don’t want to be a doctor. I guess I should have listened to my seven-year-old self a bit more closely a few years later, it would have saved many a Friday night in New York stuck in the library studying pathophysiology.
Thankfully, I had the sense mid-way through my training, that’s seven and a half years of spending hours rotating through emergency rooms and sleepless nights stuck studying in the basement of the library, I finally took the opportunity to stop and think for a second. I dipped my toes in the water by opting to take a quick break to do my MBA at CBS. I had always been interested in Business, Economics and the more social sciences, plus, my MBA would be focused on the Healthcare industry and would always come in handy if I decided to open up my hospital one day or maybe even donate my time to become Minister of Health. So I sacrificed my spring break, studied for the GMAT, and I ended up taking it twice since CBS said my 640 was not enough the first time around.
Studying medicine was one of the most intense experiences I have ever been through, that and starting my first technology company back in 2010. But life, as we all soon find out, is about more than just your academic or professional achievements. It’s about the journey and who you share it with and I am honored to be sharing the current chapter of my career with my family at KLSC.
What do you enjoy most about your career or position?
I enjoy that we are investing in the future. I believe that the future of healthcare is approaching the singularity of coalescing the physical world with the digital. As a result, I have had the pleasure of incubating, funding and developing multiple local, regional and international digital health platforms. I also love it when our work is recognized by awards and enjoy that my country dedicates the time to give back to the global community.
How has your CBS experience influenced your career?
CBS is the bedrock upon which I have built my career on the non-clinical side of medicine. Columbia is also where I first donned a white coat and took my oath as a doctor. My time in New York is a cherished memory.
What is your favorite CBS memory, such as a favorite professor, spot on campus, or social event?
Dr. Michael Feiner, hands down, was not only my favorite professor, his class has been the best investment in my career to date.
As a leader in healthcare, what qualities do you look for when hiring new MBA graduates?
They must be fiercely independent. They must believe in the merit of their own innovative thoughts and revolutionary designs, and they must have the courage to stand for them in the face of an antagonistic society and the broken healthcare industry it has inherited. They must struggle for the integrity of their creative work against every form of social opposition. They must be great creators — thinkers, artists, scientists, inventors. They must stand alone against the commonplaces of their time.
What would you say to a prospective student considering CBS and the HPM Program?
To quote Frank Sinatra: "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere. It's up to you, New York, New York"