Shada Abdullah AlSalamah

" Tell me and I forget.. Teach me and I remember.. Involve me and I learn."  -Benjamin Franklin

I’m a firm believer in education like my parents who made every effort in order for me to enjoy a long-term relationship with 0s and 1s from an early age. Here is me @ a glance:

An academic, public speaker, entrepreneur, humanitarian, digital health advocate, and former Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Ibn Khaldun Fellow. Dr. Alsalamah is a contributor to the healthcare sector modernization movement, digital health transformation, and policymaking for better disease detection, prevention, and treatment. She has 14 years of experience in building secure, mobile, and intelligent solutions using emerging digital technologies that solve local problems with the potential to have a global impact. 

Currently, Dr. Alsalamah is an Associate Professor of Global Digital Health, Information Systems Department, College of Computer and Information Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; a Technical Officer (Digital Health and AI), Strategy and Governance, Department of Digital Health and Innovation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland; and a Principle Investigator, Artificial Intelligence Center, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In addition, Dr. Alsalamah serves on a number of national and international boards and working groups including, but not limited to, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Blockchain Expert Policy Advisory Board, Paris, France; The International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications, Brussels, Belgium; ITU/WHO FG-Artificial Intelligence for Health (AI4H) Regulatory Considerations Working Group (WG-RC), Geneva, Switzerland; ITU/WHO FG-AI4H Dental Diagnostics and Digital Dentistry Topic Group (TG-Dental), Geneva, Switzerland; IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Security and Privacy; The Saudi Association for Information Security, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and The International Network for Forensic Odontology.

Prior to this, Dr. Alsalamah served as a policy-maker at the National Health Information Center, Saudi Health Council, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She also consulted for the Saudi National Command Center, Saudi Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2020 to support with COVID-19 response. Dr. Alsalamah served as a Vice President of the mHealth Solutions Division at Anmar Tech, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Between 2020-2022 she was a Research Affiliate, Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE), MIT, Cambridge, USA after spending two years between 2017-2019 at the Media Lab, MIT, Cambridge, USA as a Visiting Assistant Professor working Prof. Alex “Sandy” Pentland's Human Dynamics research group on the applications of the blockchain and open algorithms in the digital healthcare arena.

Dr. Alsalamah has been one of the information security expert leaders in Saudi Arabia. In 2016 she co-founded CIAG and co-organized with its members the first information security summer school in Saudi Arabia that was well-received. In the same year, she established the Female Chapter of the Centre of Excellence in Information Assurance (CoEIA), KSU, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which serves as the first information security entity in the region that involves women. Dr. Alsalamah holds a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science since 2015, as well as, an MSc degree in Strategic Information Systems with Information Assurance since 2010 both from Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK. 

Finally, Dr. Alsalamah serves as a member of the Scientific Committee, General Department for Research and Studies, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and the editorial review board of a number of international journals. She has also been an invited speaker and a panelist at a number of regional and international events organized by Misk Talk, MIT, World Bank, United Nations, OECD, University of Oxford, ASPEN, HIMSS, and the British Science Collaboration Symposium on Cyber Security.