Vafie Sheriff

Dr Vafie Sheriff is the founder of Youth MedAid (formerly Student MedAid London), a youth-led Community Interest Company redistributing excess medical equipment to under-resourced settings worldwide, while building a generation of globally health-literate professionals. He founded the organisation in 2022 after witnessing the dichotomy between inequitable healthcare access in developing countries and unsustainable medical waste in the UK.

Under his leadership, Youth MedAid has grown into a national force of over 40 officers and 100+ volunteers. In 2025/26 alone, the organisation joined the WHO Civil Society Organisations network, published in the WFPHA Casebook on Advocacy Volume 2 as one of only 15 cases selected worldwide, and received a highly commended award at the RCGP Annual Conference for its research on sustainability in general practice. Its 2025 Global Health & Inclusion Hackathon drew 139 attendees, a 209% increase on its first event.

Vafie remains personally involved in YMA's equipment redistribution work, signing an MOU with The Electives Network to open new receiving organisations in Nepal and Zambia. Across the past year, YMA sent approximately 2,500 items of medical equipment, with deliveries to Uganda, India, and an ongoing delivery to Sierra Leone.

He has built all of this as a volunteer alongside full-time clinical work, mentoring directors one-to-one and embedding equity into the organisation's DNA: 80% of YMA's Board are women, and over 50% are people of colour. Recognition includes the ILM Emerging Young Leader Award and the SSMA Award for Government, Politics and the Public Sector.