Catalyst · Healing Futures

The way into medicine
gets shorter

Catalyst is an interactive learning platform that brings together school students, university students and young professionals drawn to medicine. It began in November 2025.

We build clinical and analytical thinking, teach a creative approach to medical problems, and connect young people with people who work in the field. Alongside the science, we try to be useful: through volunteering, health campaigns and social projects.

events held
9
regions
5
partner schools and universities
7
community members
400+
Catalyst Medical Challenge participants holding their certificates
Medical Challenge participants
−BarrierOn your ownWith CatalystCuriosityMedicine

01 · Partnership

The universities and schools we have run events with

Every Catalyst session runs together with a partner school or university. Universities and schools from Tashkent to Fergana, Namangan, Khorezm and Samarkand have opened their doors to us.

Our partners

  • New Uzbekistan University

    Three sessions in Tashkent

  • Kristall Academy

    Two sessions in Fergana

  • Namangan davlat universiteti

    Academic lyceum, Namangan

  • Najot Ta'lim

    Regional tour, Khorezm

  • Rahimov School

    Regional tour, Fergana

  • Gulomov Academy

    Regional tour, Samarkand

What a partner gets

  • A ready-made eventCatalyst brings the programme, speakers, judges, cases and certificates.
  • Media coverageThe event is covered on Telegram, Instagram and LinkedIn.
  • Brand visibilityThe partner's logo on every material, announcement and video report.
  • A long-term networkAccess to an active community of young people drawn to medicine across the country.
  • Student engagementHands-on medical experience and networking for your students.

What we ask of a partner

A hall, a projector, a microphone and space for a coffee break.

Become a partner

02 · Event strategy

How one Catalyst event comes together

The “Build a Disease” challenge is the heart of the day. Getting there takes five steps: a venue, a speaker, a case, a competition and the pitch.

  1. 01

    Find an organisation

    Every event starts with a partner institution: a university, an academic lyceum or a private school.

    The partner provides the hall, projector, microphone and space for a coffee break. Everything else is ours. All three of our Tashkent sessions took place at New Uzbekistan University.

    New Uzbekistan University
    New Uzbekistan University
  2. 02

    Find a speaker

    Participants should hear the textbook from a real doctor. So every event has a specialist from the field.

    Speakers lecture on current topics: mental health, immunity, healthy eating.

  3. 03

    Create a medical challenge

    We prepare the case for the teams: a real clinical situation or a “Build a Disease” brief.

    In “Build a Disease” a team invents a new, fictional disease and works it up the whole way, as a clinician would:

    1. 01 · Cause
    2. 02 · Symptoms
    3. 03 · Diagnosis
    4. 04 · Treatment
    5. 05 · Presentation
    A team's invented disease: “Neuroregulatory T-cell deficiency syndrome”
    A team's invented disease: “Neuroregulatory T-cell deficiency syndrome”
  4. 04

    Competition

    The case is explained to the teams: the clinical situation, the terms of the task and how it will be judged.

    Then the teams work together on the diagnosis, the causes and the treatment strategy. One day, one challenge, a big opportunity.

    Namangan: teams working on the case
    Namangan: teams working on the case
  5. 05

    Pitching

    Each team defends its solution before a panel of medical judges and answers their questions.

    The judges score each solution from 1 to 10 and choose the winners. Every participant receives an official certificate.

    Kristall Academy, Fergana: a team defends its disease
    Kristall Academy, Fergana: a team defends its disease

03 · Events

Events we have run

From a social project to a nationwide Medical Challenge, newest first. Open any of them for the full story, the figures and the photographs.

04 · Team

Who runs Catalyst

The team that organises the sessions, agrees them with schools and universities, and runs the channel and the photography.

Core team

The co-founders who started Catalyst and lead it.

  • Diyorbek Abduhalilov

    Diyorbek
    Abduhalilov

    Project Co-founder

  • Nurulloh Shukrullayev

    Nurulloh
    Shukrullayev

    Project Co-founder

Operational Team

The people who run each session on the ground, the channel and the photography.

  • Asliddin Akhadov

    Asliddin
    Akhadov

    Media

  • Sabinabonu Khusanova

    Sabinabonu
    Khusanova

    Event Manager

  • Sofiya Rustamova

    Sofiya
    Rustamova

    PR

05 · Vision

One place to grow for Uzbekistan's future doctors

By 2027 we aim to build an active Catalyst community in every region of the country and a lasting network of partnerships with universities and medical centres.

regions (target)
14
age range
14-25
participants (target)
1,000+
  • Education: lectures, seminars and challenges on current topics
  • Clinical thinking: case analysis and the “Build a Disease” format
  • Mentoring: contact with experienced doctors, researchers and experts
  • Giving back: volunteering, health campaigns and social projects

06 · Apply

Join the Catalyst community

Take part in the next Medical Challenges, help run them as a volunteer, or become the ambassador who brings a Catalyst event to your region. Fill the application in with care: the team reads every one.

About 12 minutes

01About you

02Studies

03Role and interests

Choose one or more.

04Experience

Olympiads, courses, research, volunteering or hospital shadowing: name, date and your role.

Diplomas, certificates or other results.

05Essays

Where your interest in medicine began and what you hope to get from Catalyst. Up to 150 words.

0 / 150 words

An idea for “Build a Disease”: where the disease comes from, how it shows itself and how you would find it. Up to 120 words.

0 / 120 words

06Consent