Dubai Student Develops Alzheimer’s App After Grandfather Stops Recognising Her

Dubai: A Grade 12 student at the American School of Dubai has turned a deeply personal family experience into a technology project aimed at helping people living with Alzheimer’s reconnect with familiar faces, voices and memories.

Ghaliya Wahby developed Alzimate, an app inspired by her grandfather’s struggle with memory loss. The app has already recorded more than 400 downloads, according to Wahby.

App Helps Patients Reconnect With Family Memories

Alzimate allows families and caregivers to create personalised profiles containing:

• Family photographs
• Personal memories
• Names and relationships
• Voice recordings
• Music
• Medication details
• Other important information

The aim is to give people living with Alzheimer’s a familiar place to revisit important memories while also providing families with practical information to support caregiving.

Inspired by Her Grandfather

Wahby said the idea for Alzimate began when she was around seven years old and noticed her grandfather’s memory beginning to deteriorate.

One of the most difficult moments came when he started struggling to remember his grandchildren, despite having known and loved them throughout their lives.

She said the experience made her think about whether technology could help preserve the connections between people living with Alzheimer’s and their families.

At one point, her grandfather stopped calling her by her name. Although she could see that he recognised something familiar in her, he struggled to recall her name.

The experience changed how she viewed Alzheimer’s and motivated her to develop a tool focused not only on memory loss, but also on preserving relationships.

Helping Families Connect

Alzimate allows caregivers to create albums and regularly update a patient’s profile with familiar photographs, names, voices, relationships and memories.

Wahby hopes families can use the app to help their loved ones become familiar with family members before gatherings.

She said the goal is to help reduce the time patients spend trying to identify people around them and create more opportunities for meaningful conversations and connections.

Practical Support for Caregivers

Beyond memories and photographs, the app also includes medication details and other important information intended to help caregivers manage some of the practical aspects of supporting someone with Alzheimer’s.

Wahby plans to continue developing Alzimate based on feedback from users and hopes it can eventually support families around the world.

Student Wants to Keep App Free

Wahby said accessibility is an important part of her vision for Alzimate and that she wants the app to remain free for users.

Her long-term ambition is to expand the platform beyond the experience that inspired it and make it available to millions of patients and families dealing with Alzheimer’s.