EXPOSaudi: Precision Prevention for the Kingdom’s Future Health

EXPOSaudi will be a national exposome facility at KAU—anchored by CEES, KFMRC, and KAUH—that will measure real-world exposures across workplaces and communities. It will integrate targeted chemistry (phthalates, PFAS, POPs, PAHs, metals) with serum/urine biomonitoring under ISO-aligned QA/QC, governed by a LIMS with privacy-first controls (de-identification, RBAC, audit trails). Mixture-aware analytics and AI/ML will reveal Saudi-specific exposure clusters and will predict NCD risk, feeding employer and regulator dashboards with clear KPIs and sector benchmarks. The program will deliver intervention playbooks—filtration/ventilation upgrades, source substitution, and heat/PPE protocols—with fidelity checks to verify impact. An annual occupational health-check module will embed routine monitoring and early prevention into clinical and EHS workflows. Partnership with Panome Bio will accelerate method transfer, inter-lab QC, and workforce training. Co-developed policy briefs and adoption toolkits with Weqaya, NCEC, and MHRSD will pave the way for national rollout and sustained scale.

National importance: EXPOSaudi will strengthen Saudi health security and economic productivity by reducing exposure-driven NCD burden in the working-age population; it will localize critical laboratory and data capabilities, ensure sovereign, privacy-preserving exposure intelligence, and create high-skill jobs (analytical chemistry, data science, industrial hygiene). The facility will support Vision 2030 by enabling evidence-based standards for indoor air and occupational exposures (including PFAS and emerging contaminants), delivering actionable guidance for SMEs and large industry, and establishing public–private pathways (SLAs/PPPs) for long-term sustainability. It will also provide rapid-response capacity for spills, dust/heat events, and future chemical threats, position KAU as a regional GCC hub for exposome-guided prevention, and help lower national health expenditures through earlier detection, targeted controls, and healthier, longer-tenured workers.