Abdullah Saleh

Abdullah Saleh is a General Surgery resident at the University of Alberta. He is the founder and Chief Executive Director of ICChange. Born in Iraq, he lived in France and Malaysia before moving to Canada in 2000. He obtained a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from the University of Calgary and his MD from the University of Alberta. Abdullah spent time in Ecuador working in hospitals, investigating human and sex trafficking in South America. He also co-founded the Kenya Ceramic Project in the summer of 2007. Following developing programs for vocational training for Burmese refugees in Thailand, he co-founded ICChange, a novel type of organization to crowd-source talent and unleash innovation in creating new models and technologies to improve the quality of life and security of vulnerable populations. Working in collaboration with various faculty members, he developed a multidisciplinary multi-faculty Global Citizenship curriculum at the University of Alberta. Abdullah founded the Kibera Medical Records Initiative and the Kenya Trauma and Injury Program. His interests include system thinking and architecture, development technology and its implementation, human rights and improving access to medical services and surgery in remote settings.