How Personalised Health Can Unleash the Power of Transformative Clinicians

Dr. Nares Damrongchai is the Chief Executive Officer of Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences (TCELS), a public organization with a mission to foster the life sciences industry in the country known as Asia’s medical hub.

Nares also serves as Co-Chair of Life Science Innovation Forum, APEC's leading initiative on health and health sciences innovation. His leadership in APEC science and technology extends back to the early 2000s when he was the Executive Director of the APEC Center for Technology Foresight when he led the Center’s successful international foresight research and trainings together with the Rockefeller Foundation, the Rand Corporation, the Institute of Alternative Futures, Asian Foresight Institute and others.

Earlier in his career Nares was a laboratory scientist then he turned to pursue his career as policy researcher. He was instrumental in the success of Thailand first and second National Biotechnology Policy. Nares has published many books and article papers on science, technology, and foresight. 

He also jointly translated a comprehensive popular science book "Almost Everyone's Guide to Science: The Universe, Life and Everything" by John and Mary Gribbin from English to Thai language. Currently he is on the Editorial Board of Asian Biotechnology and Development Review, published by RIS, New Delhi and supported by UNESCO. Nares obtained the degree of Master of Philosophy in Technology Management from the University of Cambridge and holds a doctorate from Tokyo Institute of Technology with research focused on tissue engineering.

Rhoda Au is Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Neurology and Epidemiology at Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public. She also serves as Director of Neuropsychology at the Framingham Heart Study, where she is using technologies to develop digital cognitive biomarkers as surrogate indices of fluid and imaging biomarkers. Her long-term research objective is to enable solutions that move the primary focus of health technologies from precision medicine to a broader emphasis on precision brain health.