Finalists

  • All
  • Clinical Practice Leader
  • Public Health Leader
  • Patient Champion
  • Mental Health Leader

Daisy Acosta

Medical Doctor and Investigator of Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Urena,  Dominican Republic

Neelika Malavige

Professor and Head Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, University of Sri Jayewardenepura,  Sri Lanka 

M. V. Padma Srivastava

Head of Department of Neurology  and the Chief of the Neurosciences Center at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Ibtihal Fadhil

Founder and Chair of  Eastern Mediterranean NCD Alliance, Amwaj, Bahrain 

Liesl Zuhlke

Pediatric Cardiologist and Vice-President  of South African Medical Research Council and Director Children's Heart  Disease Research Unit, South Africa

Kulkanya Chokephaibulkit

Professor, MD. of Department of Pediatrics,  Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital,  Mahidol University, Thailand

Anita Abu Bakar

Founder and President of the Mental Illness Awareness & Support Association, Malaysia

Eva Njenga

Doctor of Kenya Medical Practitioners’ and Dentists’ Council, Kenya

Phung Thi Huyen

Head of Department, Quan Su Medical Oncology Department, Vietnam

Funmi Akindejoye

Arts Mental Health Facilitator of  Global Brain Health Institute and Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health, Nigeria

Ishtar Govia

Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology, University of the West Indies,  Mona, Jamaica

Maryam Noroozian

Professor of Neurology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Judges

Professor Abla Mehio Sibai

Professor of Epidemiology and Interim Dean

Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut

Abla Mehio Sibai is Professor of Epidemiology and the Interim Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut (AUB). She is the co-founder and director of the AUB University for Seniors program and the founding Director of the Center for Studies on Aging, Lebanon. Trained in cardiovascular disease epidemiology and social demography, Professor Sibai is an educator, researcher, and activist when it comes to the welfare of older adults. She has dedicated her career to the science of healthy aging and disease prevention. She co-led the first Global Burden of Disease Study in the country (2002) and the first national STEPwise NCD Behavioral Risk factor Study in 2008. In a region that hosts the highest per capita ratio of refugee population in the world, she also addressed the challenges of management of NCDs in primary care setting in refugee settlements and assessed the inclusion of older refugees in humanitarian response. She has published over 200 papers in refereed journals and close to 100 book chapters, scientific and technical reports, and policy briefs. She is a Board member of HelpAge international, a member of the World Economic Forum and of the newly launched WHO Science Council. Professor Sibai is the ‘2020 Laureate of the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award for Africa and Arab-States’. She has a BSc in Pharmacy from the American University of Beirut (1977) and a PhD in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicne, UK (1997).

Professor Ayişe Karadağ

Dean

Koç University School of Nursing

Prof. Ayişe Karadağ graduated from Hacettepe University School of Nursing in 1992 with the first rank. She received her master’s degree in 1994 and her PhD degree in 1999 from Hacettepe University Health Sciences Institute in the field of Fundamentals of Nursing. She has made significant contributions to pre- and post-graduate nursing education, especially to specialty in nursing. In this context, after completing the Wound Ostomy Continence Nursing (WOCN) Certified Training Program at R. B. Turnbull Jr., School of WOCN, Cleveland Clinic, she took part in the establishment of Turkey's first stoma therapy unit at Gazi University Hospital (2000). She initiated the Stoma and Wound Care Nursing (SWCN) Certified Training Program with the Ministry of Health (2001). Prof. Karadağ pioneered establishing and chaired the Wound, Ostomy and Incontinence Nurses Society, of which she is still a member of the Board of Directors in 2008. She was the chair of the Wound Management and Tissue Repair Association between 2018 and 2021. She worked actively in committees and commissions in the Ministry of Health, such as Nursing Regulation, Professional Competencies in Nursing, Job Descriptions of Stoma and Wound Care Nurse, and Certified Education Standards Scientific Committee. Having many national and international awards for her academic work, Prof. Karadağ also received the "Best Research from a Developing Country" award for her research in the field of Chronic Wound Management by the Journal of Wound Care (JWC) in 2015. In 2020, she received the “Silver Medal” for her contributions to the education of chronic wound management in the "World Wound Olympics” organized by the World Union Wound Healing Societies (WUWHS) and JWC.

Kenji Lopez-Cuevas

President, Cancer Warriors of Mexico Foundation

Member of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) Board of Directors 2020-2022

He is the President of Cancer Warriors de Mexico Foundation and Member of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) Board of Directors 2020-2022. Kenji is a Mexican lawyer with a Master’s in Public Policy. He has experience serving as director for United Nations relations with Mexico in the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as legal director in the Presidency of Mexico. Likewise, he is a member of the Mexican Bar Association. He has also been a professor of human rights at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico. In addition, he was recently a finalist for the Visionaris Award for Social Entrepreneurs 2021 granted by the Swiss bank UBS, which recognizes the work of leading social entrepreneurs in Mexico who are using innovative approaches to solve social problems. As president of Cancer Warriors de Mexico Foundation, he led the bill to provide occupational leaves for mothers and fathers of children diagnosed with cancer to accompany them during their oncological treatment, which have benefited nearly 6,000 families in Mexico. He also leads the initiatives #ElCáncerEnLaAgenda and #UnDíaContraElCáncer, as well as the Solidarity Council for Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer in Mexico that seeks to defend the public budget for the treatment of more than 140 thousand women diagnosed with breast cancer in the country.

Kawaldip Sehmi

Chief Executive Officer

International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations

Kawaldip is the chief executive officer of the International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations. He has an academic background in public health and law and has a passionate belief in improving access to services through digital health and justice services. As the managing director of an international children’s legal center, he led a team of international lawyers improving the rights of the child, including right to health, by applying Remote Courts. He has also served as the chief executive officer of an international mental health charity, specializing in niche mental health services supporting young people and adults with complex mental health, personality disorder and substance misuse problems access telehealth and digital mental health services. Kawaldip is a passionate advocate of the WHO’s human rights-based approaches to health and strengthening of the institutional, legislative, policy, practice and standards framework. He believes this support is needed to achieve the health goals outlined in the Sustainable Developmental Goals 2030, specifically in SDG 3.8,.to ensure universal health coverage for all.

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