Mary-Brenda Akoda, also known as MB, is an internationally recognised Nigerian AI research scientist, inventor and serial entrepreneur pioneering transformative technologies to address some of the world’s most pressing healthcare and societal challenges. Born and raised in Calabar, Nigeria, she is the Founder and CEO of GenScan AI, a medical artificial intelligence company established in the United Kingdom and Nigeria, developing breakthrough technology to make medical imaging faster, safer and more accessible worldwide.
Her flagship innovation, GenMRI, uses advanced AI software designed to reduce MRI scan times by up to 90% on existing scanners, potentially transforming a 20-minute scan into as little as two minutes while preserving diagnostic image quality. By dramatically expanding imaging capacity without requiring hospitals to purchase additional scanners, the technology has the potential to transform access to timely diagnosis for millions of patients. GenMRI has been retrospectively validated on over 8,800 MRI images and has undergone a preliminary independent blinded assessment by a UK National Health Service (NHS) consultant radiologist, who judged its images diagnostically equivalent to conventional MRI in all cases assessed. GenScan AI is now advancing towards regulatory submissions and clinical pilots with healthcare institutions across the United Kingdom, United States, Kenya and Nigeria, supported by more than five letters of intent and institutional support.
MB conducted pioneering AI research at Imperial College London, where she earned a Master of Research in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning with Distinction. She was the first and only Google DeepMind Scholar in the programme’s history. Her groundbreaking research has been published at leading international conferences, including Medical Imaging with Deep Learning (MIDL 2026) and the International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR 2026). She has also presented her research at Microsoft Research Health Futures as an invited speaker. Her scientific contributions earned international recognition, including the Fetch AI Compute Award, which selected her research among three groundbreaking AI research projects worldwide. She was the only awardee who was neither a professor nor from the United States.
For MB, however, scientific discovery was never intended to remain within the laboratory. Driven by a determination to translate groundbreaking research into practical solutions that could improve lives, she established GenScan AI in January 2026 to bring her innovation closer to the patients and healthcare systems that need it most.
Before Imperial, Mary-Brenda worked across three teams in software engineering and AI research at Microsoft, including the Microsoft Mixed Reality and AI Research Lab in Cambridge, United Kingdom. She holds a First-Class Honours BSc in Computer Science, specialising in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, from Goldsmiths, University of London. She is a two-time Google Scholar across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, a Palantir Women in Technology Scholar, a Bloomberg Scholar and a Prometheus X Venture Fellow. She has also been recognised by the UK government as a Global Talent (Tier 1 Exceptional Talent) for her contributions to AI and digital technology.
Her contributions to healthcare AI predate GenScan. As Principal Investigator of Nigeria’s first AI research for diabetic retinopathy detection, she developed a patented AI system for the early detection of diabetic eye disease, aimed at preventing avoidable vision loss and blindness through timely diagnosis. Her work was clinically evaluated in collaboration with Nigerian ophthalmologists, and her research was presented and published at the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria’s scientific conference.
Beyond healthcare, MB has an extensive track record in technology entrepreneurship and social innovation. Together with her brother, Philip, she co-founded Nkanda, an African language technology company developing digital tools to preserve and promote indigenous African languages, collaborating with linguists and universities across Africa. Supported by the Mastercard Foundation and Translated, their work was selected as one of just five projects worldwide for the prestigious 2025 Imminent Research Grants.
At around 19 years old, with an initial investment of just ₦50,000 from her mother, Mary-Brenda founded Grassroot Solar, a renewable energy company that brought affordable clean energy to over 200 underserved households across southern and eastern Nigeria. During this period, she also completed a Specialisation in Strategic Management and Innovation from Copenhagen Business School, completing a five-month, four-course programme in just five days, achieving a 96% average.
Her commitment to technology education has further reached thousands of learners worldwide, including over 3,200 learners through her Udemy masterclass for software engineers. She also co-organised Microsoft West Africa’s first upskilling programme, where she taught software engineering and mentored 120 students.
Her leadership journey began at the African Leadership Academy in South Africa, where she was selected as one of just 100 emerging changemakers, aged 16 to 19, from across the African continent. There, she received the Award of Excellence in Scientific Research for her renewable energy innovation, designing and building biogas generators to convert organic waste into clean fuel. She later returned to the Academy as a certified Entrepreneurial Leadership Educator, teaching leadership and social entrepreneurship to young people from across Africa.
MB’s achievements have attracted numerous national and international honours. In 2026, she was selected among 100 women founders recognised by Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency, in its prestigious 2026 Women in Innovation cohort. She was subsequently individually spotlighted by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) among five women founders shaping innovation and future industries. That same year, she won the 2026 Entrepreneurs’ Award in Social Innovation, a prestigious UK award recognising GenScan AI’s technological excellence, commercial potential and societal impact. She is also the sole awardee of the Q4 2025 Founderland Forward Grant, a European award for entrepreneurs building companies with the potential for outsized impact.
Alongside her scientific and entrepreneurial accomplishments, Mary-Brenda is also an author and creative writer. Her children’s book, Amazing Matriarchs: Mothers of Invention, celebrates pioneering women whose inventions helped shape the modern world, inspiring a new generation of girls to pursue science, technology and innovation. Her short stories have also been published in literary magazines.
Driven by the belief that no one should suffer or die because of a delayed diagnosis, Mary-Brenda is building GenScan AI with the ambition to transform healthcare systems globally. Her broader mission is to harness artificial intelligence and breakthrough scientific innovation to develop technologies that improve the lives of billions of people worldwide, beginning with faster, safer and more accessible medical imaging.