Middlesex University Dubai’s inaugural Digi-Health Lab Symposium explores the future of tech-driven healthcare

Leaders and experts from healthcare, government, academia, and industry gathered at Middlesex University (MDX) Dubai for the inaugural Digi-Health Lab Symposium 2026, examining how digital health, artificial intelligence and connected technologies are contributing to more preventive, personalised, and accessible healthcare.

Hosted by MDX Dubai’s Digi-Health Lab, the one-day Symposium on Thursday 10 September brought perspectives from across healthcare delivery, government, public health, academia and technology into one forum. With discussions spanning everything from how responsible AI can improve medical staff workflows to the advantages – and limitations – of wearables and other health informatics in preventive care, as well as the benefits of ambient listening, the day aimed to help drive the sector’s continued development.

The Digi-Health Lab is a recently launched interdisciplinary research initiative within the University’s Centre of Excellence for Foresight and Emerging Technologies (CEFET), established to explore how emerging and digital technologies can be applied to address current and future challenges across health and healthcare. Its inception comes as healthcare systems increasingly look towards technology to support earlier intervention, more personalised care, and better use of health information. 

Among those contributing to the Symposium were  Sandip Kumar, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at King’s College Hospital London Dubai; Dr Narges Sheikhansari, Executive Advisor and Public Health Expert; Mariam Mubarak Alkarbi, Head of Health and Nutrition for UAE Ministry of Family; Dr Amber Rashid, Director of Preventative Healthcare at King’s College Hospital London Dubai; Ahmad Awada, Director of Innovations and Digital Health of Mediclinic Middle East; and Professor Moustafa Nasralla, Head of the Smart Systems Engineering Lab at Prince Sultan University.  

Officially opened by Professor Cedwyn Fernandes, Provost & Director, Middlesex University Dubai, the Digi-Health-Lab Symposium comes at a significant point for healthcare innovation in the UAE. In May 2026, the UAE Cabinet approved the National Policy for Advancing Digital Healthcare Services and Artificial Intelligence in the Healthcare Sector. The policy closely aligns with We the UAE 2031, which calls for a future-ready healthcare system and specifically identifies predictive healthcare, innovative health technologies, and AI as areas of national importance.  

Dr Ikram Rehman, Head of the Digi-Health Lab at MDX Dubai, said the shift creates an important opportunity to examine not simply what emerging healthcare technologies can do, but how they can translate into meaningful improvements in health and care. 

“For decades, we have said prevention is better than cure. What is changing is our ability to make that principle much more actionable,” said Dr Ikram. “AI, health data, remote monitoring and connected tech are creating new possibilities to identify risk earlier and intervene sooner. The challenge now is ensuring these technologies are clinically useful, trusted, secure and capable of being integrated into healthcare at scale.” 

A real-life example was provided by Dr Rashid of King’s College Hospital London Dubai, who presented the transition from traditional snapshots of health data to continuous monitoring via wearables. “The stethoscope was invented 200 years ago to listen to the human body for the first time,” she said. “Now we have digital health, which tells you, constantly, every heartbeat, every detail of your life, your sleep schedule, your glucose, every minute, 365 days a year. But just getting that data is not enough, our job is to change that data into decisions – decisions that will make sure people don’t end up in the ICU.” 

During the first of two insightful panel sessions, entitled From Reactive Care to Prevention, Early Intervention & Personalised Healthcare, Dr Rashid was joined by Dr Narges Sheikhansari, Executive Advisor and Public Health Expert, and Mariam Mubarak Alkarbi, Head of Health and Nutrition for UAE Ministry of Family. 

Dr Sheikhansari outlined three key messages that must be remembered by those involved in the digital healthcare ecosystem. “Firstly, prevention is the highest return investment policy in healthcare – it’s already proven, so let’s do more of that. Second, technology only serves at the level of the system it was built for, so we need good infrastructure for the technology. And finally, we must build for adaptability, not permanence: Whatever we put in place today has to still be relevant in 10-20 years’ time.” 

Professor Fehmida Hussain is Deputy Director, Head and Founder of the Centre of Excellence for Foresight and Emerging Technologies (CEFET), and Head of the Computer Engineering and Informatics Department at MDX Dubai. Professor Fehmida said: “Universities must not simply study technological change; we must help shape it. The future of healthcare will not be shaped by technology alone, but through collaboration between clinicians, researchers, government, industry, technologists, patients and communities. Through the Digi-Health Lab, we want to bring these perspectives together and translate promising ideas into practical solutions.” 

The event closed with a showcase of MDX Dubai student research projects into digital health, AI, and related areas, including Mega Glasses – an AI-enabled wearable assistive system for visually impaired users – and Autonomous Elderly Guardian & Intelligent Sensing (AEGIS), which uses Wi-Fi sensing and mmWave radar to continuously monitor without cameras nor the user being required to wear a device.   

Maleesha Chamodi Kottage Rajapaksha showcased her project, SignBridge, which uses an AI model to recognise American Sign Language (ASL) finger-spellings and convert them into text. The innovation is aimed at removing communications issues for deaf or hard of hearing patients when they need emergency care.  

“This was such a great opportunity to showcase my project in front of industry experts,” said Rajapaksha. “I’m a fresh graduate and it’s very difficult for us to actually go into the job market, show our skills, and network with such high-level people – especially in the tech sector, which is very competitive. To be able to do that here at the Digi-Health-Lab Symposium was amazing.”