NYU Abu Dhabi students Bhavna Menon (NYUAD '16), Farah Shammout (NYUAD '16), Issa Nasr (NYUAD '17), Djordje Modrakovic (NYUAD '16) and Eder Munya (NYUAD '16) made it to the regional semifinals of the Hult Prize on March 8.

Out of 42 university teams competing in Dubai, the NYUAD team was one of the four teams chosen to present their work to a panel of judges. This year's Hult Prize challenge focuses on helping slum dwellers around the world suffering from chronic diseases. 

The NYUAD team's idea made use of mobile technology to increase the flow of information, and make access to healthcare faster, easier and cheaper. "Through texting, customized support, and free diagnosis, patients would be guided through every step of the process to acquire free or affordable treatment for their particular disease," team leader Menon said. 

Being the only undergraduate team in the regional competition, Menon described "competing against post-graduates and MBA's" as a nerve wrecking experience and "didn't expect to get to the semi-finals." 

Although the Dubai regional competition was eventually won by ESADE Business School, Menon said the NYUAD team learned a valuable lesson: “We learned to think critically about a socially relevant issue, how to work with opinionated people, how to go about developing a business model, and learned a lot about healthcare in general."