Beyond Bounds

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  What If Medicine Has Been Asking the Wrong Question? 23.09.2026 43p

  What if, instead of only studying why people get sick, we studied why some people stay healthy despite being genetically at risk of disease?In this episode of Beyond Bounds: Voices, host Mazar Masud, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs at M42, sits down with Dr. David J. Bearss, Ph.D., Co-Founder, CEO and President of Halia Therapeutics, to explore how genetic resilience could challenge some of the fundamental assumptions behind modern medicine.David shares the personal experiences that led him into science, his journey from laboratory researcher to biotech entrepreneur, and the moment a family carrying a genetic risk for Alzheimer’s changed the way he thought about disease. Instead of asking only what goes wrong?, David began asking a different question: what is protecting the people who don’t get sick?The conversation explores what that shift could mean for Alzheimer’s disease, precision medicine and the future of prevention, including how population-scale genomics in Abu Dhabi is enabling researchers to identify people at genetic risk before symptoms appear and explore whether earlier intervention could help protect them from disease. Guest OverviewDr. David J. Bearss, Ph.D.Co-Founder, CEO & President, Halia TherapeuticsDr. David J. Bearss is a scientist, entrepreneur and drug developer with more than two decades of experience translating scientific discoveries into new medicines. He has co-founded eight biotechnology companies and advanced more than a dozen compounds from discovery to clinical development. At Halia Therapeutics, he leads the development of therapies targeting chronic inflammation and genetic resilience, with a focus on extending healthspan and addressing age-related diseases, including Alzheimer’s.In this episode, they explore:Genetic resilience: Why some people remain healthy despite carrying genetic risk factors for serious diseases.Rethinking disease: What happens when researchers ask why people stay healthy, rather than only investigating why they become sick.From treatment to prevention: Why David believes chronic diseases require a fundamentally different approach, with intervention beginning before symptoms appear.Genes aren't necessarily destiny: How protective genetic variants can modify disease risk and what this could mean for precision medicine.Rethinking Alzheimer's disease: How studying people with the APOE4 genetic risk factor led to the discovery of a potentially protective biological mechanism.Inflammation and Alzheimer's: What genetic research is revealing about the role inflammation may play in disease progression.Population genomics: How studying entire populations could help uncover biological protection that conventional healthcare datasets have historically missed.The Emirati Genome Program: Why Abu Dhabi's population-scale genomics capabilities create new possibilities for research and clinical trials.Intervening before Alzheimer's symptoms appear: How M42, the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and Halia Therapeutics are working together on a first-of-its-kind clinical trial.The future of healthcare: A vision of healthcare where people better understand their individual risks and have the information and tools to act earlier.Chapters00:00 Introduction00:34 The personal story that drove David into science12:35 Why study health instead of disease?16:39 Has medicine been asking the wrong question?19:56 Is healthcare really “sick care”?22:58 What is genetic resilience?26:58 How population genomics changes what is possible28:53 Rethinking Alzheimer’s disease29:23 The genetic discovery that could protect against Alzheimer’s33:45 Can we intervene before Alzheimer’s develops?39:00 What would success look like 10 years from now?