It was my pleasure and honor to recognize Dr. Canan Dağdeviren as the award winner of 2026 on behalf of the Turkish Host Committee and the Chairs for the 2026 Global Summit of Women.
But first, let me tell you why she is so deserving of Turkiye’s Women’s Leadership Award.
Dr. Canan Dağdeviren is a visionary, a pioneer, and internationally celebrated scientist whose groundbreaking innovations are redefining the future of medical technology. As a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a globally respected inventor, she has become one of Turkiye’s most inspiring women in STEM and an extraordinary role model for young women around the world.
Her work combines brilliance with compassion. At MIT Media Lab, she leads revolutionary research in wearable health technologies designed to improve — and save — human lives. Her remarkable invention of a wearable ultrasound device for the early detection of breast cancer earned worldwide recognition and placed her among the BBC’s ‘100 Inspirational and Influential Women.’
She is widely admired as innovative, fearless, inspirational, and transformative — a scientist whose imagination is matched only by her determination to serve humanity through science.
Dr. Dağdeviren represents the very essence of modern leadership: intellectual courage, creativity, resilience, and purpose-driven innovation combining her multidisciplinary background.
Dr. Canan Dagdeviren, a professor already with an #innovation, at #MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) had who won the Global Summit of Women Award for 2026 in Istanbul. She is a physics engineer working on early health diagnosis predicting the future to save lives.
At her early ages, her parents gave her a book about the Nobel Physics lautarate Madam Marie Cruie to inspire her about innovation.
In Women 20 (W20) of G20 since 2015 we were lobbying for more women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
Dr. Dagdeviren is not only a perfect but also successful living example of woman in STEM. She is working on predicting what our body says about our future. She is in early diagnosing business regarding which illnesses may be coming. This is another invaluable dimension of her work.
In her own words she is working on creating biomedical technologies that are “not only innovative, but deeply human.” Today, she is surrounded with remarkable research group to innovate more in MIT. She dreams boldly. She has an innovative mind and I believe she will continue to innovate.
And already came up with a device for women. In the W20 of G20, we know that even though most innovations come for men or research is done with male mice and medical pills are arranged for male mice, whereas women are assumed to be small mice. This time I vision that Canan’s research can spill over and it will be applicable for all.
Sincere congratulations Dr. Canan Dağdeviren and all the best for her further carreer.