Meet the nextGEN member
Omar El Nahhas - StratifAI
Who or what called you to lead?
Cancer didn’t shape my path – a basketball injury did.
When I started my engineering degree, I was playing basketball at the highest youth level in Belgium. But, that dream came crashing down with one catastrophic injury.
My foot bent in ways no foot should and, just like that, I couldn’t walk for ten months. Basketball taught me discipline, focus, and how to push my limits, but the injury forced me to rethink my future.
Stranded at home, I threw myself into my engineering studies.
Engineering let me travel – from teaching in China to pursuing my master’s in Spain and Estonia. I relished every opportunity to broaden my horizons, but something gnawed at me. I didn’t just want to build things, I wanted to solve problems that mattered.
I grew up in a family where cancer has claimed the lives of loved ones and it left a mark. Each loss was another reminder of how cruel the disease can be.
One evening, in a café in Estonia, I happened to meet my friend’s sister – a medical doctor – and I mentioned that I was considering medical school. But her advice put me on a different path. She said not to become a doctor but instead to partner with one.
That conversation was a turning point. Through her, I connected with a professor in Germany who was using AI to develop precision oncology applications. The fit felt natural – I had a technical background, entrepreneurial experience (from developing small businesses earlier in my career), and an insatiable curiosity for learning.
What started as a tentative collaboration quickly grew into a deeper commitment. He brought the science and I brought the business acumen. Together, we envisioned leveraging AI tools to revolutionise cancer diagnostics.
The work took me deeper into life sciences than I ever anticipated, leading me to earning a PhD under his guidance. Tackling problems in cancer diagnosis fuelled my drive to innovate and lead.
Starting a precision oncology company was a leap, but every step – from my injury to my engineering education to that fateful conversation – had prepared me.
Omar’s full profile is available for our members inside the community.