Sidra Medicine is trialling a research programme to sequence the genomes of newborns in Qatar — an initiative that could eventually be adopted nationally — as part of a wider push to make the country a global destination for research-driven paediatric care, precision medicine and advanced therapy development, a senior official has told Gulf Times in an exclusive interview.
Prof Khalid A Fakhro, chief medical officer at Sidra Medicine, an initiative of Qatar Foundation, said the hospital’s long-term vision goes beyond conventional clinical care, with Sidra seeking to attract international patients specifically because of its access to cutting-edge research, clinical trials and personalised treatments.
He said this is an ambitious approach that could eventually help make Qatar a global destination in many healthcare fields, noting that research is a key factor behind the international reputation of leading children’s hospitals in the United States and Europe.
“What we want is to become the place where kids travel for the research-driven care. Complex international cases already frequently enter research programmes when conventional medicine struggles to establish a diagnosis or determine the most appropriate treatment,” he explained.
The strategy, he noted, could create a new dimension of medical tourism in Qatar, where families travel not simply for healthcare but to access advanced, research-led therapies available within the hospital.
Prof Fakhro said genomic medicine is one of the key research strategies at Sidra Medicine.
“A major component of Sidra’s research strategy is genomic medicine, which is increasingly being used to diagnose rare and complex diseases and guide treatment decisions. It has already produced cases in which a child’s primary condition led doctors to discover an additional, previously unidentified medical risk,” he said.
He described a case at Sidra Medicine in which a child who presented with structural and facial abnormalities underwent genome sequencing that revealed a cardiac condition. As the child had not displayed cardiac symptoms, there had been no initial referral to cardiology.
“The genomic findings enabled doctors to identify the additional risk and arrange appropriate specialist care,” he said.
In other cases, he said, genomic testing can determine which treatment should be used, while in some it can rule out treatments that may not be appropriate for a particular patient. “Genomic analysis can also reveal risks that may not yet have produced symptoms, including potential cancer risks, allowing physicians and families to take a more proactive approach to healthcare. These are the kinds of things where precision medicine really comes in handy,” he added.
The shift towards preventive and proactive medicine now underpins the research programme aimed at sequencing newborns.
“Sidra Medicine began the initiative as a research project and is now looking at how it could eventually be introduced as a clinical programme. The objective is to sequence a newborn’s genome and identify genetic risks that could lead to health problems during the first five years of life, a critical window for intervention,” he said.
Rather than focusing on diseases that may emerge decades later, he said, the programme would concentrate on conditions where early identification could allow doctors to intervene during childhood.
“If I read the whole genome, I can predict based on the genome what problems they might have that I can intervene in. The programme illustrates a broader pathway in which medical innovation begins in the research environment. It is validated on a smaller scale and can eventually be transferred into routine hospital care and potentially a national programme,” he said.
If the approach proves successful, he suggested, newborn genomic sequencing could ultimately be adopted more broadly across Qatar.
Prof Fakhro said the overarching objective for Sidra Medicine is to narrow the gap between scientific discovery and clinical care.
“Research programmes can begin with a small number of patients under controlled conditions and grant-supported funding. Successful projects can then progress into clinical programmes and eventually into broader healthcare policy,” he said.
He pointed out that the newborn genome sequencing initiative is one example of this model, while advanced genomic therapies represent another.
“Sidra Medicine’s broader goal is to establish a culture of academic medicine in which research is not separate from healthcare but is integrated directly into diagnosis, treatment and patient care,” he added.