Integrating genomic medicine into primary care: a precision health model from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

To describe the design, structure and first-year operational data of the Precision Medicine Clinic (PMC) at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSHRC), a primary-care-embedded genomic medicine service launched in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in January 2025.

Descriptive service report.

The Precision Medicine Clinic, an embedded subspecialty service within the Department of Family Medicine and Polyclinics at KFSHRC-a publicly funded, single-payer tertiary academic centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Adult and paediatric patients evaluated at the PMC during its first calendar year of operation (January-December 2025), referred from primary care for predictive genomic testing, pharmacogenomic testing or genetic counselling.

The PMC evaluated 212 patients in 2025. Predictive genomic testing accounted for approximately 57% of evaluations and pharmacogenomics for approximately 43%, indicating a genuinely hybrid first-year caseload rather than one dominated by a single modality. Turnaround time from referral to results delivery was approximately 2-4 months. The predominant care model was two-visit (family-history capture and consent at visit 1; results disclosure at visit 2). Distinguishing features include embedding within a fully operational family-medicine department, a hybrid service scope spanning reactive pharmacogenomics, predictive Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tier-1 actionable-gene screening and reproductive carrier screening under a single referral interface, integration with the Saudi Human Genome Program (SHGP) reference catalogue, and operation during the first year without routine medical-geneticist involvement.

The PMC-KFSHRC offers a replicable organisational template for integrating genomic medicine into primary care within a publicly funded, single-payer system and a reference architecture for Gulf and emerging-economy health systems pursuing primary-care genomic integration under Vision 2030-aligned digital-health strategies.