“AI is a clinical partner, not a replacement. We have not developed an AI physician, and that is not what we are building,” the Group CEO of M42 told.
Aisha Legge had every reason to hesitate. The 53-year-old HR leader, who moved from the UK to Abu Dhabi 30 years ago, carried a worrying family history: breast cancer on her mother’s side and ovarian cancer on her father’s side. When she first learned about the Emirati Genome Programme during the COVID-19 pandemic, she was unsure whether she wanted insight into her own DNA. But as a mother of four, she felt compelled to proceed.
“If I drop dead,” she said, “what information would I leave behind for my children?”
She chose to opt in. Genomic analysis revealed a BRCA1 mutation associated with ovarian cancer — a silent risk she had been carrying unknowingly. Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi advised risk-reducing surgery, and three weeks later she underwent the procedure. She is now in good health today.
Her story did not unfold by chance, but because of a system built deliberately over years — much of it operating behind the scenes.
What the patient does not see
“All of that happens in the background while the patient undergoes a completely normal journey,” Dimitris Moulavasilis, Group Chief Executive Officer of M42, told. “Patients do not know that their medication has been matched to their genomics. They do not see the data running. The only thing they see is a doctor.”
Behind that routine experience lies what he described as one of the most advanced health data architectures in the world.
More than 940,000 genomes have been sequenced through the Emirati Genome Programme, forming one of the largest and most diverse national genomic datasets. Clinical records are connected via Malafi, with M42 acting as custodian of around 3.5 billion health records.
In Abu Dhabi, wastewater is monitored at 100 sites in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council, enabling early detection of infectious disease threats before they reach hospitals. Newborns are screened for more than 830 treatable conditions, while around 22,000 couples have undergone pre-marital genetic screening.
Pharmacogenomics — tailoring medication and dosage to a patient’s genetic profile — is being integrated into electronic health records at the point of care through a partnership between M42 and Oracle Health.
The system has already delivered results in complex conditions. In one study of 500,000 genomes linked with clinical data, researchers identified genetic markers behind progressive blindness. A child with an RPE65 mutation subsequently received gene therapy that helped preserve vision.
“You prevent at the newborn stage, at the pre-marital stage, you personalise through pharmacogenomics, and you predict before it happens so you act,” Moulavasilis said. “This way you ensure a healthier population, more inclusive societies, and you reduce the cost of care.”
The doctor’s changed day
For physicians within M42 facilities, the transformation is already visible, even if patients rarely notice it.
An AI clinical platform — currently being tested at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Danat Al Emarat, and HealthPoint — allows doctors to interact with full patient records using natural language, generate real-time consultation summaries, automate clinical coding, and access pharmacogenomic recommendations during appointments.
“You ask in Arabic, in English, whatever language you need,” Moulavasilis said. “The system summarises the consultation, codes diagnoses, retrieves care standards, and recommends medication based on genetic profiles. Everything is at your fingertips without switching systems. You spend time with the patient, not the screen.”
He emphasised, however, that clinical responsibility remains firmly with physicians.
“The doctor will ultimately make the decision and sign off on the examination,” he said. “AI is a clinical partner. It is not a replacement. We have not developed an AI physician, and that is not what we are building.”
Why Abu Dhabi moved faster
Moulavasilis said the scale of Abu Dhabi’s progress became clear during international discussions, including at the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece.
“In France, in Greece, they have just deployed interoperable platforms to collect health data, like Malafi,” he said. “They don’t have genome data. They are now trying to figure out what to do with it. When I explained what we already have, it sounded futuristic to them.”
He also recalled a US research visitor who was surprised by the scale of the UAE’s genomic work.
“I said, ‘What are you talking about? We have sequenced 940,000 genomes,’” he said. “He didn’t believe it. I think the world cannot absorb the speed at which Abu Dhabi is developing.”
He credited the regulatory environment for enabling this progress.
“We are not providers. We are national UAE assets,” he said. “The Department of Health is a forward-thinking regulator. It is allowing companies like M42 to push the boundaries of what is possible.”
What comes next
A mental health platform is in development, with further integration of wearable technologies planned. Agentic AI systems may eventually support the management of lower-acuity chronic conditions under physician oversight and regulatory approval.
Moulavasilis has set 2027 as a milestone year, when he expects Abu Dhabi’s position as a global healthcare hub to be firmly established.
“There is no other system on the planet like Abu Dhabi,” he said. “What we are building as an ecosystem in 2027 will confirm Abu Dhabi as a global centre of healthcare.”
