Doha, September 15 (QNA) - Marking 12 years of advancing precision medicine and genomics in Qatar, the MENA region and beyond, Sidra Medicine is set to host the Precision Medicine and the Future of Genomics (PMFG) Summit 2026. The Summit will be held from Dec. 7 to 9, 2026 at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).

Commenting on the occasion, Chief Research Officer at Sidra Medicine and Executive Chair of PMFG Summit 2026 Prof. Khalid Fakhro said: "Since hosting the first major precision medicine symposium in the Middle East in 2014, Sidra Medicine has continued to lead regional and global dialogue on personalized healthcare. Since then, PMFG has evolved alongside the remarkable progress Sidra Medicine has made in precision medicine and genomics.

We are now at a pivotal stage where advances in genomics, artificial intelligence and data science are creating new opportunities to transform how we predict, diagnose and treat disease. Through PMFG Summit 2026, we want to bring together global expertise to accelerate the translation of these discoveries into meaningful improvements in patient care."

This year's edition will focus on four scientific pillars: Building Globally Representative, Population-Scale Genomic Infrastructure, AI-Driven Discovery and the Regulatory Ecosystems to Govern It, Rare, Metabolic, and Mendelian Disease Genomics in High-Consanguinity Populations, and Translating Genomic Discovery into Deployed, Equitable Care.

For her part, Dr. Ammira Akil, the Principal Investigator and Director of Metabolic and Mendelian Translational Program at Sidra Medicine and Managing Chair of PMFG Summit 2026, said: "For decades, most genetic research has focused on a small part of the world's population. This year's PMFG Summit is bringing together the scientists that are changing that landscape. We will have esteemed researchers who have built or are building genetic maps that finally include African, Chinese and Vietnamese ancestry."

The event will also feature experts launching national genome projects across the Global South in places like Pakistan, Egypt, Peru and Ghana, and here in Qatar, including updates about newborn screening programs in populations where genetic conditions are more common.

Artificial intelligence will be a major topic running through this year's program, from generative AI systems designing entirely new drug candidates and quantum computing accelerating genomic analysis, to deep learning models predicting disease risk across entire national populations, to the international collaborations training AI across borders without moving underlying patient data.

The summit will also confront the challenges and questions about how regulators, health systems and society itself, can govern AI-driven medicine responsibly as it moves faster than the frameworks built to oversee it.

This year's program features live debates including a session about whether the traditional blockbuster drug model can survive in an age of personalized medicine and a closing debate on whether population genomics will truly reach the patients who need it most.

The program also includes specialized workshops, scientific poster presentations, and dedicated networking opportunities designed to encourage knowledge exchange and foster collaborations across research, clinical practice, and technology.

PMFG Summit 2026 is open to clinicians and pediatricians, scientific researchers and geneticists, data scientists and bioinformaticians, public health officials and policymakers, as well as biotechnology innovators and industry leaders. (QNA)