Being a woman in science herself, Diana Bracco, president and CEO of Italian diagnostic imaging corporation Bracco Group, is passionate about having more female representation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects.
Men outnumber women when it comes to most STEM majors in universities and this translates into women making up only 28 percent of the workforce in science-dominated areas, with the gender gap being especially high in “some of the fastest-growing and highest-paid jobs of the future, like computer science and engineering”, said Bracco.
“Women’s empowerment is an ethical ‘must’, a powerful driver of inclusiveness, an effective tool to fight sustaining inequalities, a fundamental level of human rights and an effective way to address gender-based violence,” she said.
“No country can excel without the contribution of women; this is why everyone must invest in the potential of women and commit to the fight against all types of conditioning and discrimination. The most accurate projections show that the greatest engine of international growth in the near future will come from women in the workplace,” continued Bracco.
In response, Bracco Group’s Fondazione Bracco launched Mind the Stem Gap manifesto “in support of access to STEM disciplines for women, overcoming gender stereotypes”, Bracco said.
The manifesto aims to promote inclusive education for girls, free of stereotypes and prejudices, support the community of educators, at home and at school and increase awareness of women’s contributions to scientific disciplines.
As general commissioner for Italy’s pavilion at Dubai’s Expo 2020, Bracco is using her country’s participation in the world fair to raise awareness on gender equality in STEM explaining that Italy Pavilion will host a Women and Science conference in February.
Bracco Group’s digital imaging solutions are present in most of the GCC through distributors and Bracco said she believes: “Expo 2020 will be an opportunity for us to increase our visibility in the region.”
“The GCC area today represents an area of excellence for healthcare and Bracco has the products and the solutions to fit with all the needs of the GCC countries in their bid to become and remain among the most innovative healthcare systems in the world,” she continued.
In a bid to attract top talent in healthcare, the UAE has been giving Golden Visas to doctors, with Abu Dhabi granting more than 500 doctors the ten-year residency in October. At the same time, coronavirus has accelerated the adoption of med-tech innovations in the region as telemedicine became increasingly common.
“Medicine is now more and more personalised, not only in terms of diagnosis, but also prognosis and the provision of the most effective treatment for individual patients. Bracco is therefore investing heavily in digital innovation, in artificial intelligence tools to analyse radiology imaging. The relationship between health, medicine and technology is destined to become ever closer, and the progressive hybridisation of knowledge will bring about the transition to ‘4P Medicine’: predictive, preventive, participatory and personalised,” said Bracco.
“Expanding access to quality healthcare services has been one of the top priority for all the GCC countries, with each one making healthcare excellence a key for the development of the countries and at the same time a source of attraction of both local and foreign investment,” she continued.
“All GCC countries are investing heavily on innovation and digitalisation: digital infrastructure, virtual care, remote patient monitoring, and AI account for a significant portion of healthcare investments in the region and will continue to do so for a number of years. Innovation and digitalisation are not something of the future as digital healthcare solutions are already well developed in the region,” she added.
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