Mount Sinai DigiTwin
Personalized, AI-Powered Health Optimization
We’re pioneering a Digital Twin Model, powered by AI and real-time health monitoring, to extend healthspan.
Transforming Healthcare: From Treating Illness to Improving Wellness
Today's healthcare system is more about treating illness than preventing it. It focuses on managing symptoms with medications, surgeries, and hospital visits—reacting only after problems arise. This approach, often called "sick care," leads to rising costs and a never-ending cycle of chronic disease management, without truly addressing the root causes of conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
We believe healthcare should be different. Instead of waiting for illness to develop, we need a proactive, personalized, and data-driven approach that helps people live longer, healthier lives.
A New Vision: Personalized, AI-Powered Health Optimization
We’re pioneering a Digital Twin Model, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and real-time health monitoring, to extend healthspan—the number of years you live in good health. This revolutionary technology uses deep data insights to provide:
- Personalized Health Recommendations – AI-driven guidance tailored to your unique biology, lifestyle, and environment.
- Early Detection & Prevention – Identifying risks before disease develops, so you can take action sooner
- Continuous, Adaptive Support – Dynamic recommendations that evolve with your health and goals.
Our approach is participatory (empowering you with actionable insights), preventive (catching issues early), and precision-driven (customized to your individual needs). This isn’t just about living longer—it’s about thriving.
How Digital Twins Revolutionize Health
Advancements in AI and Machine Learning (ML) now allow us to analyze massive amounts of data and create virtual health models, or Digital Twins. These models act as real-time simulations of your body, monitoring key health indicators and predicting risks with incredible accuracy.
Our two key objectives for Digital Twin technology in healthcare:
- Real-Time Health Tracking & AI-Powered Guidance – A digital health companion that provides expert-level insights into your well-being.
- Early Intervention for Preventive Care – Proactively identifying risks before symptoms appear, reducing the need for expensive treatments later.
A Next-Generation Whole-Body Digital Twin for Early, Disease-Agnostic Risk Detection
Our study is building a whole-body, disease-agnostic digital twin that detects early changes across all major systems—cardiovascular, metabolic, liver, kidney, brain, immune, and musculoskeletal—long before symptoms appear.
By integrating advanced imaging, multi-omics, wearables, and exposomic sensors, our Digital Twin continuously personalizes prevention. AI-driven insights, real-time biomarker tracking, and predictive modeling enable more precise risk forecasts and earlier, more effective interventions tailored to each individual.
Redefining What It Means to Be Healthy
True health isn’t just about avoiding disease—it’s about actively shaping your well-being. Health is dynamic, influenced by lifestyle, environment, psychology, and biology. With a proactive, personalized approach, we can help individuals not only prevent disease but improve overall health outcomes and quality of life.
This is the future of healthcare—empowering people to take control of their health, live longer, and thrive.
The DigiTwin Study
Data is the key
Mount Sinai is undertaking a pioneering new study to develop the tools and data modeling needed to transform healthcare using Digital Twin models. Our goal is to amass a comprehensive profile of health data in a cohort of 1,000 individuals within the next 3-5 years. The health data that will be collected will span established clinical laboratory and physical function tests, state-of-the-art whole body MRI imaging, state-of-the-art genetics and multiomics tests, comprehensive lifestyle questionnaire data collection, and use of novel at-home sensors and devices for monitoring activity and health. The depth and breadth of health measures is designed to capture molecular, cellular, organ-level, and organism level data so we can understand how systems interact with each other and impact overall health.
Putting it all together
Once we have assembled the DigiTwin cohort data, we will develop next-generation AI and ML modeling to interpret the data. Sophisticated machine learning analysis will perform individual phenotyping to discover novel insights into health at any one moment and trajectories in health markers over time – critical for meeting the objective of real-time health tracking and recognizing the signs for preventive intervention. Next, we will use AI to learn how lifestyle and health interact and develop models that provide personalized feedback to optimize the effect lifestyle has on health – meeting our objective to provide adaptable, expert-level guidance.
What’s Involved
The data collected for the study will encompass the molecular, cellular, and organ-level function of all the key organs and organ systems in the body including the brain, heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, and gut. Other tests will provide data on the individual as a whole.
In-Clinic vs. At-Home Study Components
Click the icons below to explore what each setting involves.
| Study Test | How is this done? | What’s it for? |
|---|---|---|
| Health History, Mental Health, and Lifestyle | A comprehensive personal and health history will be collected with a battery of standardized questionnaires to capture the current health profile. | These data will be the basis for modeling. |
| Multiomics, and clinical lab tests | State of the art technology for collecting tiny drops of blood at home will be used to provide analysis of the multiomic profile as well as standard clinical blood tests. | AMultiomics relates to the 1000’s of chemical byproducts in the blood as cells perform their functions. The multiomics profile provides unique insights into health and the early changes associated with onset of disease. Combining multiomics spanning the areas of proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, and gut microbiomics will provide the most comprehensive analysis connecting multiple organ systems in new ways to monitor health. |
| Gut and oral microbiome | A kit to collect a stool sample and saliva sample at home will be provided for subsequent analysis at our labs. | There are millions of bacteria in the digestive system, from the mouth to the gut, that play an enormous role in modulating the cellular functions of the body. Studying the gut and oral microbiome is an important factor in determining overall health. |
| Lifestyle, activity, and current health | Questionnaires documenting all the key factors that influence health will be used throughout the study. Questionnaires will be completed remotely through a smartphone app. Key topics include activity, sleep, stress, and nutrition. | Lifestyle factors are a key component in overall health. How they interact with and can influence health markers is a major component of the study. |
| Sensors and Devices | Multiple wearable sensors and at-home devices designed to capture continuous or near-continuous data on activity and environment (exposomics) will be provided for use at home during the study. | This novel component of the study integrates minimal form-factor wearable technology to provide continuous data on health lifestyle and environment to optimize the understanding of links between daily activities and changes in health metrics. |
| Study Test | How is this done? | What’s it for? |
|---|---|---|
| Vitals and physical function tests | Standard measures of vital signs (height, weight, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration), exercise capacity and lung function, leg and grip strength, and electrocardiography (ECG), will be collected during a study visit to our facility. | These tests will provide established markers of health – an essential starting point for building next generation models. |
| Whole body MRI Imaging | Non-invasive MRI imaging of multiple organ systems including the brain, heart, whole body composition, and other vital organs. | Imaging provides more precise assessment of body composition and heart function, and provides measures that deepen insight into early changes in organ function. |
| Retinal Imaging | A simple and quick scan of the back of the eyes, similar to a visit to the optician. | The retina provides a detailed view of the delicate blood vessels in the eyes and provides insight into vascular health. For example, retinal imaging is used to diagnose diabetic retinopathy, a side effect of diabetes. |
| Genetic analysis | Genetic analysis will be done from a simple blood sample. | Many conditions are linked to specific genes, and genetic signatures often play a role in many diseases. |
At-home Tests
An intuitive smartphone app facilitates data collection from at-home tests and survey answers.
The eHive smartphone app – developed by Mount Sinai researchers – provides an intuitive and user-friendly interface for study participants to provide informed consent to participate during enrollment into the study and for collecting self-reported health and lifestyle data from in-app questionnaires during the study. The app also provides a convenient way for researchers and participants to stay in touch, answer questions, and receive reminders to complete study tests and schedule study appointments at our center in NYC. The app also connects to smart devices at home and facilitates seamless integration of study data in a secure (HIPAA compliant) database to enable researchers to develop AI/ML models.
Study Design
The study will be conducted over 24 months, with tests conducted during annual visits to our center at Mount Sinai in NYC, and others conducted at-home. A baseline visit will be conducted upon enrollment with follow up visits after 1 and 2 years. In between, participants will receive test devices in the mail for blood collection and blood sugar monitoring. Other tests will be completed daily or continuously, such as the Oura ring activity monitor and the air quality monitor.
“Mount Sinai Researchers Featured in Nature for Advancing Healthspan Science”
Nature has published a sponsored feature highlighting Mount Sinai’s leadership in redefining ageing through the XPRIZE Healthspan initiative. The article showcases the work of Drs. Miriam Merad, Zahi Fayad, and Fanny Elahi, who are pioneering new approaches to extend years of healthy living by integrating biology, lifestyle, and technology.
Read the full article on Nature's website here:
Healthspan research focuses on living healthier, not just longer
Sign Up
To participate in the study, you must be at least 18 years of age, be able to use a smartphone to connect at-home devices for data collection, and be able to complete at-home tests and annual in-person study visits at Mount Sinai in NYC. The study will last for 24 months.
If you are interested in participating in the study, please contact the study team at digitwin@mssm.edu. And, thank you!
Support the DigiTwin Study
Your donation helps us transform healthcare through AI-powered digital twin technology.
In the donation form, please select "Other: DigiTwin" under "Direct my gift to".
Contact Us
Email: digitwin@mssm.edu
Direct questions to: Zahi Fayad and Todd Brooks