Assistant Professor of AI in Medicine at WCM-Q, Rajat Mani Thomas
Doha, Qatar: Artificial Intelligence is rapidly reshaping the future of healthcare, including the area of personalised medicine. From diagnostics to treatment plans, AI is helping clinicians move away from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and towards care that’s tailored to each individual’s biology, lifestyle, and environment.
At Qatar Foundation-partner university Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar (WCM-Q), this vision isn’t just theoretical — it’s being built in real time.
“One of the things I find exciting is that this isn’t just theory,” said Assistant Professor of AI in Medicine at WCM-Q, Rajat Mani Thomas. “Right here at Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar, we are building AI systems that could change how we think about everyday health.”
One of the most exciting examples of this is WCM-Q’s development of an advanced AI-powered platform designed to act like a team of digital health coaches.
Each AI agent (software systems capable of autonomously performing tasks) specialises in a pillar of lifestyle medicine – nutrition, sleep, physical activity, and stress management – and collaborates to deliver science-backed, personalized guidance.
“These AI agents don’t just create a generic answer,” Thomas explained. “They collaborate, like colleagues around a table, and give a response that’s grounded in peer-reviewed science.” What sets this system apart is its ability to factor in a person’s age, gender, occupation, and medical history, offering tailored advice that is both medically sound and behaviorally realistic.
“If two people ask the same question, they might get different answers, tailored to their unique lives,”
Thomas said. “And because behavior change is often the most challenging part of improving health, the system also draws from psychology and behavioral science to suggest practical ways to stick to healthier habits.”
But a great amount of data also means a great amount of responsibility. AI’s ability to process sensitive health information — genetic profiles, medical histories, and even mental health indicators — raises critical questions about privacy.
“Health data is some of the most personal information we have,” Thomas emphasized. “Protecting that data isn’t optional – it’s critical.”
To address this, WCM-Q and other institutions use encryption, de-identification, and emerging techniques like federated learning, which allows AI to learn from data without ever moving it out of secure systems.
“The goal is to strike a balance between two key objectives: unlocking the power of AI to improve health, while ensuring every patient’s information remains private and secure,” Thomas said.
“Your data belongs to you, and AI should serve you – not the other way around.” Qatar itself offers a unique environment for pioneering AI in healthcare, according to Thomas.
“Qatar is small but wealthy, and that combination is powerful,” he said. “It has the resources to invest in world-class healthcare and cutting-edge research and it also has the agility that big countries often lack.”
