At the 11th Annual SWAAC ELSO Conference 2025, Dr. Mohamed Azzam, an emergency ICU and ECMO specialist from Saudi Arabia, currently practicing at Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Hospital. As a leader in ECMO development across the Gulf region, Dr. Azzam shared powerful reflections on regional collaboration, clinical education, and his vision for ECMO innovation.

🎙️ “Education, collaboration, and simplicity in technology—that’s how we move forward,” said Dr. Azzam.

🩺 Key Highlights from the Interview:

✅ ECMO Growth in Saudi Arabia:
Dr. Azzam detailed how Saudi’s ECMO program started in 2017 and evolved through collaboration among like-minded clinicians, robust leadership engagement, and standardized protocols. The result? A nationally unified program now recognized among the best.

✅ ECMO Cannulation Workshop:
He praised Abu Dhabi’s hands-on cannulation training, which drew a surprisingly diverse audience—including emergency medicine physicians. The workshop offered every participant a chance to practice, emphasizing that awareness and education are key to building sustainable ECMO teams.

✅ Lessons in Leadership:
From engaging hospital leadership to using clinical success stories as advocacy tools, Dr. Azzam emphasized the importance of aligning clinical value with institutional goals, including patient outcomes, hospital prestige, and cost-efficiency.

✅ Reflections on SWAAC ELSO 2025:
He described this year’s conference as one of the “top four ECMO conferences” in the last decade, citing its international faculty, well-curated scientific agenda, and successful merger with ECMONet. “The bar is high for India in 2026,” he noted, recommending stronger international marketing for even broader reach.

✅ His Passion in ECMO:
Dr. Azzam’s current focus is working with industry partners to make ECMO technology more affordable—simplifying machines and reducing the financial burden on hospitals and patients alike. While AI plays a role in data, his interest lies in hardware innovation for accessibility.