Hisham Alharbi

Director of Innovation in Research

Hisham Alharbi is Director of Innovation in Research at the Jeddah Second Health Cluster, where he develops the cluster's research strategy and leads multidisciplinary collaborations across clinical, academic and private-sector partners. The cluster is one of the Saudi health clusters formed under the health sector transformation programme, serving more than 996,000 beneficiaries through 37 primary healthcare centres and six general and specialised hospitals with a clinical capacity of about 1,965 beds. He has more than twenty-five years of experience across public health, diagnostics, compliance and healthcare transformation. He holds an MBA in global health from University College London and a PhD in tropical medicine from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, alongside earlier degrees in molecular pathology and toxicology. His work has spanned Vision 2030 preventive screening programmes, the standardisation of primary healthcare operations, and national COVID-19 diagnostics and vaccination efforts. He takes a particular interest in evidence-based, data-driven approaches to healthcare innovation, and in building the research culture and partnerships needed to improve population health outcomes.