Dr Loubna Bouarfa is a machine learning scientist turned entrepreneur. She is an electrical engineer with a Doctorate in machine learning for healthcare applications.
Dr Loubna Bouarfa is the founder and CEO of OKRA.ai – a leading artificial intelligence (AI) company for life sciences, that supports the industry in bringing the right drug to the right patient at speed. Prior to OKRA.ai, Loubna led different machine learning positions in startups and academia. Loubna was a member of the European Union High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, where she particularly focused on achieving competitive business impact with AI.
She was named an MIT Technology Review Top Innovator Under 35, a Forbes 50 Top Women In Tech, and won several prizes, including CEO of Year 2019 at the Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards and Best Female-Led Startup at the StartUp Europe Awards in 2019. Recently, Loubna has been selected as a European Young Leader (EYL40) for 2022. 2018-2021 Loubna contributed as a thought leader within European institutions, by supporting the European Commission and member states in the drafting of ethical guidelines for the future of artificial intelligence. She has also acted as an adviser in the recent work UN has undertaken on AI, which will lead to the creation of guidelines for the use and application of AI by SMEs in developing countries.
On a personal level, she is a strong advocate for diversity, women and challenging the status quo.
