Dr. Sam Prince To Speak At Healthivate

I am really excited to share with you that Dr. Sam Prince will speak at Healthivate. Sam is an astonishingly gifted and passionate social entrepreneur and we are thrilled he will be ending our day at Healthivate with an inspirational message about One Disease At A Time. If you haven't got your tickets to Healthivate, the bloggers conference, there is still time so grab a ticket now.

Biography - Dr. Sam Prince

Born in Dundee, Scotland to Sri Lankan immigrants, Dr Sam Prince moved with this family to Australia in 1986. Gifted academically, he began tertiary education at the age of 16 at the Australian National University after which he graduated with a degree in Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Monash University in Melbourne. At 21, while studying medicine in Melbourne, Sam established his first business, Zambrero Fresh Mex Grill, in his hometown - Canberra. Zambrero is built upon the key principles of happiness, healthy food, and humanitarianism. In the following years, Sam continued to practice as a doctor and grew Zambrero to over 28 stores and counting, 500 staff and over $25 million in revenue. The business was recognized as the fastest growing franchise in Australia in 2010 by BRW. Recently, the Plate4Plate initiative was launched in partnership with Action Against Hunger, whereby every time you buy a plate of food in a Zambrero store, someone also receives a plate of food in the developing world. The program is already active in Liberia, and has served over 1.2million plates of food. At present, there are 28 Zambrero stores across Australia and this is planned to reach 60 by the end 2013 with the plan of international growth by the end of this year.

Sam established the not-for-profit One Disease at a Time, which aims to systematically focus, one by one, upon significant diseases affecting Australians today, with the aim of improving the basic standard of health of all Australians. The first targeted disease is scabies, a parasitic mite that burrows under the skin to lay eggs, and which is transmissible by skin-to-skin contact. Scabies underlies 50–70% of streptococcal pyoderma (or skin sores caused by streptococcal infection, primarily Group A streptoccocus or GAS). Further, post-streptoccocal disease, including rheumatic heart disease and kidney disease, occurs at much higher rates in Indigenous Australia than most places in the world, and these diseases cause chronic bad health and, ultimately, premature death. While most non-Indigenous Australians have never suffered from, or know someone who has suffered from scabies, some remote Indigenous communities see around 7 out of 10 infants suffering from scabies at least once before their first birthday. Sam, now joined by a team including Nobel laureates, the Australian Governor General and legendary medical scientists have redefined the model of how to partner and practice within the Aboriginal communities in Australia.

In 2012, he was named the Young Australian of the Year, Australian Capital Territory and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year. In addition, he has also been listed in the top 30 entrepreneurs under the age of 30 by 2009 Anthill Magazine Australia and the Most Outstanding Young Person of the World by Junior Chamber International in 2008. 

Have a peek at Sam's TED talk.