Dr. Basma Al-Buhairan is the managing director of the World Economic Forum affiliate Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Saudi Arabia.
The center supports the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 by being a platform for public-private, multi-stakeholder collaboration to maximize technological benefits to society and minimize the risks associated with 4IR technologies in Saudi Arabia.
A healthcare professional and academic, Al-Buhairan is also a key adviser and part of the founding team of the Research Development Innovation Authority.
For more than 25 years, Al-Buhairan has created, led, and advised on innovative and ambitious initiatives in the Kingdom across domains including clinical operations, health technology adoption, business transformation, education, and investment.
Al-Buhairan is skilled at setting up greenfield healthcare facilities and operations. She also has expertise in healthcare transformation, education, and investment development.
Al-Buhairan helped King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh to commission, set up, and manage clinical departments and lead cross-collaborative initiatives in areas such as patient safety with diverse stakeholders across the organization.
She then became a healthcare and university relations leader at IBM.
Al-Buhairan went on to co-lead the commissioning and setup of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz University Hospital and served as its deputy CEO.
In conjunction with this, she also helped to establish Princess Nourah University’s Health Sciences Research Center.
Al-Buhairan also went on to serve as chief events management and business development officer at the National Center of Events and adviser to the minister of investment.
She was previously an adviser to the governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (now the Ministry of Investment) and led the healthcare and life sciences sector. In this role, Al-Buhairan was instrumental in attracting multinational life sciences organizations to the Kingdom.
Her career has been defined by her leadership ability and by her skills in cross-cultural, multi-disciplinary communications and collaborations.
Al-Buhairan, who was an adjunct assistant professor at the School of Medicine, University of Utah, US, has also been a mentor for many people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
She holds a PhD in patient safety policymaking; a master’s in infection reduction post-total hip and knee replacement surgeries from the University of Sheffield in the UK; and a master’s in molecular biology from Brown University in the US.
Al-Buhairan is also a fellow of the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowships Organization and was awarded the Ward Wheelock Fellow Award in 2013.
