What’s in this episode?

In this episode of GCC Tech Talks, ⁠Tom Stroud⁠ and ⁠Sye Rahman chat with Leina Essakalli — a data scientist and AI transformation leader with a rare background spanning biomedical engineering , bioinformatics at Harvard, and scaling AI across healthcare in the UAE.

Leina shares what it really takes to make AI work in high-stakes environments: data quality, trust, regulation, and starting from business pain instead of vendor buzzwords.

We cover:

• Why data work is mostly cleaning + standardisation (especially in healthcare)
• What it takes to meet the bar for regulated environments (and why it matters)
• How the UAE is investing in genomics and preventative health at scale
• A practical framework for AI use cases: where you lose money, where you can gain, and how to build the business case
• When you don’t need AI (and it’s just automation)

Join us to listen to Leina Essakalli's  journey and a practical approach to deploying AI responsibly at scale in the UAE.