Entrepreneur Middle East’s Healthcare Visionaries 2026: Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Burjeel Holdings

This article is part of Entrepreneur Middle East’s Special Healthcare Visionaries 2026 issue.

Dr Shamsheer Vayalil is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Burjeel Holdings, a leading super-specialty healthcare services provider in the GCC.

A trained radiologist, he established his first hospital in Abu Dhabi in 2007 and has since built it into a portfolio of 94 assets across the GCC, including 20 hospitals and 44 medical centres.

His Career Trajectory

Dr Vayalil’s stated vision was to provide accessible and affordable healthcare to those in need. In the same year, he founded VPS Health, his investment holding company, which now supports a diversified portfolio across the healthcare value chain, backed by more than 20,000 professionals.

In 2022, the GCC assets were unified under Burjeel Holdings, whose brands include Burjeel, Medeor, LLH, Lifecare, ALKALMA and Tajmeel. His portfolio companies form an integrated healthcare ecosystem encompassing prehospital services, healthcare delivery, pharmaceutical manufacturing, education, research, and allied services.

The wider platform includes LIFEPharma, established in 2011 and the only USFDA approved pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in the UAE; Ziva, launched in 2013 to manufacture personal hygiene, cosmetics, and healthcare products; and VPS Lakeshore Hospital in India, acquired in 2016, which he chairs alongside the Educare Institute of Dental Sciences.

He is also Founder and Board Member of Response Plus Holding, the largest prehospital emergency medical services provider in the region. Over a career spanning nearly two decades, Dr Vayalil has guided Response Plus Holding and Burjeel Holdings to listings on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

As Chairman, he also led Almasar Alshamil Education Company, which invests in higher education and special needs education and care in Saudi Arabia, to listing on Tadawul in 2025. In 2026, Burjeel listed its inaugural US$500 million Sukuk on the London Stock Exchange’s International Securities Market.

The issuance was 3.2 times oversubscribed, with 61 percent allocated to international investors, and proceeds were used primarily to refinance existing debt. Dr. Vayalil is known for his hands-on leadership, particularly during periods of regional crisis and humanitarian need.

He has personally led healthcare teams on the ground, bringing together clinical expertise, emergency response capabilities, and institutional partnerships to strengthen healthcare readiness and resilience while expanding access to care for underserved communities globally.

He is also spearheading structural transformation across Burjeel Holdings to make high-quality healthcare more accessible, affordable, and efficient. Through Burjeel 2.0, the Group’s transformation strategy, he is driving the development of integrated healthcare platforms, expanding affordable and community-based care, and introducing innovative healthcare delivery models across the UAE and the wider region.

A key focus of his leadership is the integration of artificial intelligence across Burjeel’s clinical and operational ecosystem, alongside the development of AI-powered healthcare solutions and products with applications beyond the Group’s own facilities.

His vision extends to building a technology enabled healthcare ecosystem that combines clinical expertise, digital innovation, and scalable solutions to address evolving healthcare needs regionally and globally.

His philanthropic contributions span healthcare, education, humanitarian relief, and community welfare. His initiatives include the Golden Heart Initiative, which provided life-saving cardiac surgeries for 50 underprivileged children; the AED 4 million 10 Journeys Initiative, which provided prosthetic rehabilitation for amputees.

He has contributed AED 10 million to the 1 Billion Meals Endowment and AED 5 million to the Fathers’ Endowment campaign. In 2026, he established an AED 1 million relief fund to support families and survivors affected by the Emirates Road accident in Dubai.

He has supported breast cancer screening and preventive healthcare programs that have reached thousands of women. He holds an MBBS from Kasturba Medical College and an MD in Radiology from Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute and received an honorary doctorate from Aligarh Muslim University in 2014.

His honours include the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, India’s highest civilian honour for Non Resident Indians, and the GPF Global Humanitarian Award.

About Burjeel Holdings

Burjeel Holdings continues to strengthen its leadership in advanced clinical care across oncology, transplantation, and complex multidisciplinary medicine.

Burjeel Medical City’s multi organ transplant programme has reached 99 transplants since inception, while Burjeel Cancer Institute became the world’s first institution to administer camizestrant (Etcamah) in a clinical care setting using ctDNA guided treatment.

New additions include a Sarcoma & Bone Center, the Burjeel Breast Center with its One Stop Breast Clinic model, the Korean Pavilion at Burjeel Hospital Abu Dhabi, a new Burjeel Medical Centre in Dubai Silicon Oasis and Tajmeel’s flagship aesthetics and wellness centre in Jumeirah.

The Group has also entered a clinical and academic collaboration with Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in the US and the UAE Ministry of Family to enhance family health, well-being, and social stability in alignment with the UAE’s Year of the Family and “We the UAE 2031” vision.