
DR. ALAA MURABIT
Alaa Murabit is a physician, global strategist, and architect of systems-level change. She designs and scales solutions that reshape policy and rewire institutions to build people-centered resilience in health, equity, sustainability, and peace.
She currently serves as Managing Partner: Sustainable Growth at 500 Global, where she catalyzes private-sector investment in sustainable, inclusive growth, bridging innovation, investment, and impact. Known for fluently connecting grassroots activism with high-level diplomacy, Alaa grounds global strategy in local realities. From reimagining health financing to advising the UN Security Council, she brings a deep conviction that the highest returns come from investing in people, particularly those who have long been excluded from power and capital.
At 21, amid civil war, she founded the Voice of Libyan Women, pioneering a faith-rooted approach to security and gender equity that has since shaped international peace-building efforts alongside President Jimmy Carter, Leymah Gbowee, and others. Her groundbreaking "Noor Campaign" highlighted the crucial role of women's faith leaders in fostering a more accurate understanding of religion and promoting women's rights, particularly in conflict and fragile settings. Her leadership in bringing coalitions of faith actors together to challenge the suppression of women's rights, perpetuated by interpretations of religious texts, was cited as a “turning point in women’s rights globally” by Human Rights Watch. Alaa's TED Talk, viewed over seven million times, was selected as “TED Talk of the Day” and one of “4 moving TED Talks you should watch right now” by The New York Times and spurred inclusive security and religious peacebuilding efforts globally.
By the age of 25, she had successfully negotiated and passed numerous resolutions through the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly, including Resolutions 2122 (2013), 2242 (2015), 2467 (2019), and 2493 (2019). Alaa's leadership was instrumental in shaping United Nations General Assembly Resolution 70/1 (2015), better known as the Sustainable Development Goals, including ensuring the inclusion of Goal 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. The Goals have transformed the global agenda, driving policies across government and business, shifting public and private sector budgets in 193 countries, and impacting billions of people.
As a result, Alaa was appointed a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Advocate by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Antonio Guterres, speaking at the first-ever 'SDG Moment' during the United Nations General Assembly. In 2016, she was appointed as the UN High-Level Commissioner for Health, Employment, and Economic Growth.
Alaa is also the architect and creator of For Mama (now Every Pregnancy), the first global, Muslim-led campaign & coalition for maternal and newborn health, which raised $13M in its inaugural year with 30+ partners. Alaa also conceived The Beginnings Fund, a groundbreaking $600 million collaborative philanthropic fund, the largest of its kind dedicated to maternal and newborn health in Africa, designed to save over 300,000 lives and reach 34 million mothers and babies by 2030.
Alaa is also a medical doctor, a graduate of the London School of Economics and the University of Zawia, and a Harvard Radcliffe Fellow. She is an International Criminal Court Hague-certified sexual and gender-based violence investigator and founding member of the International Treaty on Gender-Based Violence at Harvard University's Carr Center. She advised 40+ countries at the Head of State and ministerial levels and held executive leadership roles at Phase Minus 1, IMPACT 2030, and the Omnis Institute. From 2020 – 2025, she directed a $350M+/year global portfolio as Global Policy, Program Advocacy and Communications Director at the Gates Foundation, where she led the Foundation’s fragile settings assessment and established its FCV community of practice.
Alaa is the recipient of more than 100 honors and awards, including a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, CNN Leader, New York Times TrustWomen Hero, Harvard Law Woman Inspiring Change, Lancet Profile, Wikipedia Global Leader, BBC Top 100, Forbes 30 Under 30, Global Citizen Awardee, WIRED World Global Thought Leader, 2018 Nelson Mandela International Changemaker, Aspen Institute Spotlight Scholar, Canada's 2021 Woman of Impact, YMCA Distinguished Community Service Awardee, MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow, and one of the 100 Most Influential Women in History by the Canadian government. She has been nominated to the Canadian Senate, received the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and received the Marisa Bellisario International Humanitarian Award from the President of the Italian Republic and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Alaa has helped mobilize over $40B to improve health outcomes, advance gender equity, accelerate sustainable development, and support peacebuilding, impacting lives in 193 countries. As an SDG co-architect and UN SDG Advocate, she helped design the framework that guides how governments, companies, and multilateral organizations align trillions of capital with measurable sustainability outcomes. She also serves as the Georgetown/Lancet Commissioner on Health, Trust & Faith; Girls Not Brides Board Chair; Women for Women International Trustee; and has previously served on the boards of the Malala Fund, Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance), International Alert, and others.
Her work has been recognized by Forbes, the BBC, CNN, Vanity Fair, Al Jazeera, PBS, NPR, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Times of India, The Guardian, Bloomberg, YouTube, Wired, CTV, The Boston Globe, Jon Stewart, and more.
In her spare time, Alaa moonlights as a personal assistant to her two toddlers.
For media request and speaking engagements contact office@alaamurabit.com or Christine Lancman at CAA.