AUS student among Kwelio winners of AED 1 million prize for digital health app

POP by Kwelio earns two honors at the third edition of the Create Apps in Dubai Championship for its longevity-focused approach to medication management, using personalized reminders and adherence tracking

A prescription starts treatment; following it consistently is what sustains it. Poor adherence to long-term therapies is a worldwide health challenge identified by the World Health Organization. At American University of Sharjah (AUS), chemical engineering student Mohammad AlQassimi is part of the founding team behind Kwelio, whose app POP by Kwelio is designed to help patients manage medication and maintain their daily treatment routines.

POP by Kwelio was named Dubai’s App of the Year 2026 and the best app in longevity category at the third edition of the Create Apps in Dubai Championship, organized by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy. The Kwelio team received the AED 1 million grand prize.

Kwelio was started by Mohamed Alrahma, CEO, and Sumi Mahmud, CTO. AlQassimi serves as Head of Partnerships, leading strategic partnerships, investment relations and business expansion.

Image caption (from left to right): Mohammad AlQassimi, Sumi Mahmud and Mohamed Alrahma.

"What drew me in is that this is an engineering problem the healthcare system doesn't have the right tools for. We're not solving medication chemistry - we're solving the measurement gap between a prescription and a patient's actual routine. At AUS, I'm learning to think in systems; at Kwelio, I'm watching how a system gets built in the UAE market in real time," said AlQassimi.

Kwelio’s patient-facing app, POP by Kwelio, combines personalized medication reminders, adherence tracking and gamification to help patients maintain consistent routines. Kwelio also aims to provide healthcare providers and insurers with insight into medication-taking patterns, helping them identify where follow-up may be useful. The broader goal is to support healthier patients, reduce preventable complications and contribute to a more efficient and sustainable healthcare system.

“For POP by Kwelio to be useful, it has to support patients and give healthcare partners a clearer understanding of adherence patterns. We are developing the platform to bring reminders, tracking and gamification into patients’ routines, with the longer-term aim of turning adherence data into insights that can help providers and insurers decide where follow-up may be needed. That connection between day-to-day behavior and care delivery is central to our technology strategy,” said Mahmud.

POP by Kwelio is scheduled to launch on iOS in the fourth quarter of 2026.

“The award recognizes the team’s work, and the opportunity ahead is to build partnerships that can bring  POP by Kwelio into broader healthcare settings. Our immediate focus is to launch the app and work with healthcare providers and insurers across the UAE. Those partnerships will help us build a model for growth, with international expansion as a longer-term ambition,” said Alrahma.

“At the AUS College of Engineering, we encourage our students to innovate, embrace entrepreneurship and work together to solve real-world challenges,” said Dr. Fadi Aloul, Dean of the AUS College of Engineering. “We aim to equip them with the skills and mindset to turn their ideas into practical solutions that make a positive impact on society. The Kwelio team’s achievement is a great example of this spirit, and we are proud to see its founders bringing their ideas to life.”

Across the AUS College of Engineering, students combine technical learning, research and hands-on experience to explore challenges shaping technology and everyday life. They develop the knowledge and skills to create solutions and contribute across a range of fields. For more information about the college, visit www.aus.edu/cen.