Zoya Brar

Zoya Brar , Founder & Executive Advisor, CORE Diagnostics, a high-end clinical laboratory, focused on bringing innovation to the diagnostic industry, in 2012 when she was 23 years old. She scaled CORE to 500+ employees and served 30 million patients in 13 countries, transforming a nascent enterprise into a leading genetic diagnostics player in Southeast Asia.

She has received numerous awards for her work in healthcare and has been invited to speak at prestigious forums such as the Stanford Women in MedTech conference. Her contributions go well beyond biosciences. CORE was also a first-of-its-kind “social experiment” that resulted in building a non-hierarchical organization with a culture of radical transparency. This motivated Quest Diagnostics in the US to engage Zoya to help reimagine their leadership training programs.

In 2020, she transitioned the CEO role to her successor – who she had developed over the past seven years – and moved to Vancouver. Prior to founding CORE, Zoya worked at Google for two years. She continues to be an Executive Advisor to CORE.

She now works with many startups in Canada and the US in a mentor and advisory capacity. She is especially passionate about women-led and women-funded startups. She is the Global Chair for Biosciences for G100, a global group of 100 women leaders focused on creating an equal, progressive & inclusive environment for women worldwide. While her identity as a woman in leadership was shaped by her mother – a physician turned CEO – throughout her upbringing, it has come full circle after becoming a mother of two children.

“While the stated task of a jury is to assess, to judge, I personally think that it is much more. It is to coach, to mentor, to guide, and help recognize the outstanding work of social entrepreneurs. That’s the lens I hope to bring to my role at SABERA.”