Initially focused on women’s health, the partnership will unite Department of Health - Abu Dhabi’s longitudinal health data with URA’s real-time insights, underpinned by a rigorous joint data governance framework
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Department of Health—Abu Dhabi (DoH) and URA, maker of the world’s leading smart ring, Oura Ring, today announced a joint research programme to study how continuous wearable data can advance preventive health. The collaboration marks the beginning of a long-term partnership to advance Abu Dhabi’s prevention-first, data-driven healthcare agenda, and will initially focus on women’s health and cardiometabolic risk.
The collaboration builds on Abu Dhabi’s advanced public health infrastructure and longitudinal health data assets, integrating them with URA’s real-time, continuous insights across key health indicators. Together, this creates a strong foundation for understanding health at a population level, enabling the identification of risk factors and supporting a shift from reactive care to more proactive, personalised intervention. The depth of Abu Dhabi’s longitudinal data further strengthens its potential as a platform for population health research, offering deeper insight into how conditions such as obesity, prediabetes, cardiovascular disease, and maternal health risks emerge and evolve.
Initially centred around women’s health, the partnership will explore key research pathways focused on preconception health and perinatal care, supporting the development of more targeted early interventions and improving health trajectories for women, families, and the wider population. The collaboration will also explore other key areas of health, including metabolic and cardiovascular conditions, with a clear ambition to scale successful insights and interventions beyond initial focus areas over time.
The partnership will be supported by robust data governance principles, including data minimization, transparent data processing and secure storage in line with applicable regulations and international best practices. All use of identifiable data will be strictly controlled, with access governed by jointly defined ethical and regulatory standards.
HE Mansoor Al Mansoori, Chairman of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, and Tom Hale, CEO of URA met in LA, USA this week to formally launch the partnership and align on the next phase of advancing prevention-led, data-driven healthcare.
HE Al Mansoori commented: “The future of health will be defined by sensing and the ability to understand the body continuously, in real-time, and at population scale. Abu Dhabi has built an intelligent health system designed for this shift. Bringing real-world wearable data into the clinical setting, underpinned by strong data governance frameworks that ensure privacy and responsible use of health data.
“Advancing women's health and fertility is a key priority for Abu Dhabi, and together with URA we are starting where continuous insights have the greatest power to detect risk earlier and create more personalised care across the life course - for mothers, babies, and families. This partnership brings together one of the world’s most advanced population health datasets with continuous wearable insights at scale, creating a unique opportunity to redefine how prevention is delivered in real-world settings.”
Tom Hale said: “Abu Dhabi is setting a powerful example for how nations can embed prevention and innovation into the future of healthcare. Partnering with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi will allow us to build a meaningful preventative health model that is grounded in data, scientific rigor and privacy. It’s one of many upcoming initiatives we’re committed to across the region, and an important step in our long-term partnership with Abu Dhabi.
We’re starting with women’s health, because the health of women is the health of families, and the health of families is the health of the nation. But this partnership is just the beginning — our ambition is to develop a model here that can inform preventive care globally.”
The agreement marks a significant milestone in URA’s continued expansion across the UAE and wider Gulf region, as the company deepens its presence through strategic partnerships, locally relevant research, and innovation aligned with the UAE’s emergence as a world leader in prevention-led healthcare and long-term wellbeing.
The next phase of the partnership will focus on pilot design, ethics approvals, and local evidence generation, creating a clear pathway toward broader integration within Abu Dhabi’s health system.
About the Department of Health –Abu Dhabi (DoH):
The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi is the regulative body of the healthcare sector in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Committed to ensuring excellence in healthcare, DoH monitors the health status of the population while shaping the regulatory framework for the health system. This includes inspecting against regulations, enforcing standards and encouraging the adoption of world-class best practices and performance targets by all healthcare providers in the Emirate. Abu Dhabi remains dedicated to shaping the future of healthcare by establishing an intelligent and sustainable ecosystem that prioritises health, longevity and quality of life for all community members. Leveraging state-of-the-art infrastructure and cutting-edge capabilities, DoH continues to develop and implement initiatives and programmes in line with its strategic focus areas, Healthy Population, Best-in-Class Care and Resilience and Innovation. These efforts reflect DoH’s unwavering commitment to predicting, preventing and personalising healthcare for every individual.
For further information on DOH, visit https://www.doh.gov.ae/ and follow on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
About URA:
URA delivers personalized health data, insights, and daily guidance with Oura Ring, the leading smart ring that helps you live healthier, longer. Guided by a mission to shift healthcare from sick care to prevention, URA supports millions of members worldwide across sleep, activity, stress, readiness, women’s health, and heart health. Scientifically validated against medical gold standards, the lightweight Oura Ring tracks 50+ health metrics continuously, empowering both individuals and thousands of research teams, healthcare providers, and organizations. With 1,000 ecosystem partners across wellness and medicine, URA is advancing the future of preventative health.
Founded in Finland in 2013, URA has E.U. headquarters in Oulu and U.S. headquarters in San Francisco. URA was last valued at approximately $11B—making it the world’s most valuable standalone wearable company. Learn more at ouraring.com or connect with URA on Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
Oura Ring is not a medical device and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, monitor, or prevent medical conditions or illnesses.
Contacts
URA
For press enquiries contact:
oura@currentglobal.com
Department of Health – Abu Dhabi
For media inquiries, please contact:
Mariam Al Marzooqi,
msalmarzooqi@doh.gov.ae
+971 50 536 6660
HE Mansoor Al Mansoori (Left) and Tom Hale (Right)