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Dr Vijay Anand Ismavel
Dr. Vijay Anand Ismavel (Paediatric Surgeon) and Dr. Ann Miriam (Anaesthesiologist) are a remarkable married couple who have pursued an inspiring career in Global Health Work in Assam, India. As alumni of the Christian Medical College, Vellore, they worked against the constraints of societal norms, to reopen the Makunda Christian Leprosy and General Hospital, which had been closed for the previous 10 years. The institution is devoted to providing healthcare for leprosy patients and marginalised communities. Over the next 30 years, they have refined a visionary approach known as the “Makunda Model” which focusses on high quality, low-cost, sustainable approaches to healthcare provision in remote areas, and genuine identification of individuals unable to pay to access through “shared meals tests” and “vital assets tests”. This model has been studies by Wharton School of Business for its impact and recognised for efficiency in providing accessible healthcare. At present, the hospital has over 200 beds and has nearly 8000 deliveries and a large number of surgeries a year. The project has been expanded to include a secondary school, nursing school, branch hospital and biodiversity project which have produced transformational impact in surrounding communities.
Dr Ismavel and Dr Miriam were awarded the prestigious Paul Harrison Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2016 by Christian Medicine College, Vellore. They have recently been awarded the WFSA Blood Health Innovation Awards 2026 for their work on developing a novel low-cost intra-operative autotransfusion device.
Dr Katy Kuhrt
Dr. Katy Kuhrt is an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and researcher at King’s College London specializing in global maternal health, with a strong focus on improving outcomes in low-resource settings. Her work centers on translating innovative diagnostics and interventions into real-world clinical practice, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. She has played a key role in large-scale collaborative initiatives, including involvement in a global consortium addressing pregnancy-associated acute kidney injury, and in landmark implementation research such as the CRADLE-5 trial, which evaluated the scale-up of the CRADLE Vital Signs Alert device across maternity services in Sierra Leone to improve early detection of life-threatening complications.
Dr. Kuhrt is also lead author on impactful research assessing point-of-care diagnostics, including studies on placental growth factor (PlGF) testing to predict adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes. Her work demonstrates how low-cost, bedside tools can accurately identify high-risk pregnancies and support timely clinical decision-making in resource-limited settings. Through her research and partnerships with local health systems, Dr. Kuhrt is advancing scalable, evidence-based solutions to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality globally.
Dr Jakub Gajewski
Dr Jakub Gajewski is a global surgery researcher at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin. His work focuses on strengthening surgical and healthcare capacity in low-income settings across Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Over 17 million women in LMICs give birth each year in facilities without safe water, putting mothers and newborns at serious risk of infection.
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The SURG-Water team developed a prototype solar disinfection system that treats harvested rainwater using renewable solar UV — a sustainable, low-energy, regionally reproducible solution for district healthcare facilities.
Megi Health
Megi Health is a clinically validated digital health platform dedicated to women’s cardiovascular health — from pregnancy through to lifelong heart wellness.
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Developed in partnership with King’s College London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and the American Heart Association.
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Pre-eclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide.
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Megi’s proprietary AI algorithms use longitudinal clinical data to identify pre-eclampsia risk factors before symptoms appear, enabling earlier intervention and continuous monitoring through the critical postpartum period.
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AI-driven risk analysis, and personalised care pathways
