Entrepreneurship course sparks idea for global health solution

Two students at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a Qatar Foundation partner university, created a prototype called HealthBook that could revolutionize the way health records are shared. Mugur Preda and Raman Saparkhan, both computer science students, built the prototype as part of a new CMU-Q course called “Entrepreneurship for Computer Science.” CMU-Q offers many entrepreneurship courses and learning opportunities for students, and this newest addition explores entrepreneurship through a computer science lens.

The course culminated in the Inhud Showcase, where students presented their ideas to a panel of industry experts and faculty members. Preda and Saparkhan received first prize for their project. 

Mohammad Hammoud, associate teaching professor of computer science, created the course based on his own experience in tech entrepreneurship. Hammoud is also the founder and CEO of Avey, an award-winning tech startup that uses AI to help diagnose health ailments.

“The course provides students with a practical end-to-end paradigm for starting, running, scaling, and exiting a tech company,” said Hammoud. “It takes them through the entrepreneurship journey, starting with the vision and taking them through to management and full realization of a sustainable business.”

For Preda and Saparkhan, the course has sparked an interest in pursuing tech entrepreneurship. “Through the course, we learned the concepts of building a startup and we gained valuable experience,” said Saparkhan. 

Preda would like to further develop HealthBook into a viable entrepreneurial venture: “The initial idea was sparked by my father. He had a serious illness, and sharing his health records with different hospitals and medical professionals was very difficult. This startup is a way to use my computer science skills to make things easier for others who are seeking medical opinions and treatment.”