AUST Alumnus among the World's 500 Most influential Arabs
Eng. Mohamed Osman Baloola, former student of the College of Engineering in Ajman University of Science and Technology, and current teaching assistant at AUST Department of Biomedical Engineering, was selected among the World's 500 Most influential Arabs in 2012.
The annual listing published by ITP, covers 11 fields namely finance, economy, culture, society, art and science. A jury of experienced researchers is tasked with assessing and selecting the most influential Arab personalities across the world throughout a period of six months. The initial list of 1782 nominees was shortened to 500 individuals who have been most influential during the last year.
For the eight consecutive year, Prince Al Walid bin Talal is at the top of the list for his achievements in finance and business and his influential work in charity. Second in the 2012 list is Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, CEO and Chairman of the Emirates Group. The list also included a number of well-known Arab scientists such as Prof. Farouk Al Baz and Prof. Charles Elachi, two prominent space scientists, Sir Magdi Habib Yacoub, the world's leading transplant surgeon, and the Noble Prize laureate in Chemistry, Prof. Ahmad Zewail.
Women achieved the best performance in this year’s list with 105 selections, with Saudi activist Reem Asaad as the most influential Arab woman and the 3rd most influential Arab in 2012. The list also included Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, UAE minister of foreign trade and the Yemeni activist Tawakel Karman, co-recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.
Eng. Mohamed Othman was able to be part of the 2012 Power 500 mainly thanks to his winning innovation of ''Remote Monitoring and Control System for Diabetes Patients via Mobile Phones," an artificial pancreas which helps stabilize glucose levels in diabetes patients.
Per countries, Lebanon came first as the most influential Arab country with 85 selections, followed by Saudi Arabia with 67 selections and the UAE and Egypt with 58 each.
Arabian Business magazine held a special ceremony to commemorate a number of these personalities. The event took place on June 6, 2012 in the Pavilion Dubai under the patronage of Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan, chief of the Dubai Police Force, whose was chosen as the 12th most influential Arab personality this year. The event was also attended by Mohammed Al Abbar, Chairman of Emaar, along with many prominent business and media figures.
