Middlesex University Dubai hosts inaugural Digi Health Lab Symposium on AI
Discussions covered the use of responsible AI to improve healthcare workflows, wearable devices for continuous health monitoring, health informatics and ambient listening technologies.
UAE—Healthcare leaders, government officials, academics and technology experts gathered at Middlesex University Dubai (MDX Dubai) for the inaugural Digi Health Lab Symposium 2026, held on 10 September.
Hosted by the university’s Digi Health Lab, the one day event examined how artificial intelligence (AI), digital health and connected technologies can support preventive and personalised healthcare.
Discussions covered the use of responsible AI to improve healthcare workflows, wearable devices for continuous health monitoring, health informatics and ambient listening technologies.
Speakers also examined the infrastructure and safeguards needed to integrate these technologies into healthcare systems.
The Digi Health Lab operates within MDX Dubai’s Centre of Excellence for Foresight and Emerging Technologies.
The interdisciplinary initiative explores how emerging technologies can address current and future challenges in healthcare.
UAE strengthens digital health agenda
The symposium took place as the UAE advances its digital healthcare agenda.
In May 2026, the UAE Cabinet approved the National Policy for Advancing Digital Healthcare Services and Artificial Intelligence in the Healthcare Sector.
The policy aligns with the UAE’s 2031 development agenda, which identifies predictive healthcare, innovative health technologies and AI as areas of national importance.
Among the speakers 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 at the UAE Ministry of Family; Dr Amber Rashid, Director of Preventive Healthcare at King’s College Hospital London Dubai; Ahmad Awada, Director of Innovations and Digital Health at Mediclinic Middle East; and Professor Moustafa Nasralla, Head of the Smart Systems Engineering Lab at Prince Sultan University.
Professor Cedwyn Fernandes, Provost and Director of MDX Dubai, officially opened the symposium.
Dr Ikram Rehman, Head of the Digi Health Lab, said digital technologies could make preventive healthcare more actionable by enabling earlier identification of health risks.
“AI, health data, remote monitoring and connected technology are creating new possibilities to identify risk earlier and intervene sooner,” he said.
Wearables and personalised care
During a panel discussion on prevention, early intervention and personalised healthcare, Dr Rashid highlighted the growing use of wearable devices to monitor health continuously.
“Just getting that data is not enough. Our job is to change that data into decisions,” she said, referring to information collected on heart rate, sleep and glucose levels.
Dr Sheikhansari said effective digital healthcare would depend on strong infrastructure and systems capable of adapting to future needs.
She identified prevention as an important healthcare investment and urged stakeholders to develop technologies that remain relevant as healthcare needs change.
Students showcase digital health projects
The symposium concluded with presentations of MDX Dubai student projects in digital health and AI.
Projects included Mega Glasses, an AI enabled wearable system designed to assist people with visual impairments, and Autonomous Elderly Guardian & Intelligent Sensing (AEGIS), which uses Wi Fi sensing and millimetre wave radar to monitor older people without cameras or wearable devices.
Another project, SignBridge, uses AI to recognise American Sign Language finger spellings and convert them into text.
Its developer, Maleesha Chamodi Kottage Rajapaksha, said the project could help address communication difficulties faced by deaf or hard of hearing patients during emergency care.
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