Organising Committee

Professor Zhaoxiang BIAN is currently Associate Vice-President (Clinical Chinese Medicine), Chair Professor in Chinese Medicine and Tsang Shiu Tim Endowed Chair of Chinese Medicine Clinical Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. He also serves as Hospital Chief Executive of The Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong; Director of the Vincent V.C. Woo Chinese Medicine Clinical Research Institute; Director of the Centre for Chinese Herbal Medicine Drug Development; and Director of the Chinese EQUATOR Centre at the Hong Kong Baptist University. Professor Bian has long been dedicated to the integrative Chinese and Western medicine management of gastrointestinal diseases. His work encompasses clinical services, clinical and basic research, and new drugs development. He is also actively advancing the standardisation and internationalisation of clinical research in Chinese medicine.

Professor Junshi Chen is a world renowned food safety and human nutrition scientist, currently served as the chief adviser of China National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment. Prof. Chen’s research interests include: food safety risk assessment & risk communication, epidemiological studies on diet, nutrition and chronic diseases and Exercise is Medicine. Recently, he was appointed as the Chief Scientist, 2nd China National Food Safety Standard Reviewing Committee; Chair, Advisory Committee, 2nd China National Food Safety Risk Assessment Expert Committee. His other social responsibilities include: Deputy-chair, Expert Committee, Food Safety Committee of China State Council; President; etc.

Dr. Geetha Krishnan Gopalakrishna Pillai is Unit Head for Traditional Medicine Research, Data and Innovation at the World Health Organization (WHO), where Dr. Pillai leads work on evidence, data systems, and innovation for traditional, complementary and integrative medicine (TCIM). The work focuses on research methodologies, real-world evidence, digital data architectures, and equitable innovation linked to biodiversity and Indigenous knowledge systems. Dr. Pillai contributes to implementation of the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–2034 and to the scientific and policy agenda of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre. Dr. Pillai has contributed to global initiatives linking traditional medicine, planetary health, and sustainable development, and supports Member States in integrating TCIM into health systems through evidence-informed approaches. With a background in clinical practice and research, experience spans drug discovery and development, intellectual property, health systems, research policy, and global health strategy. Dr. Pillai holds an MD in Clinical Pharmacology.

Tom Heilandt is an international food safety and standards expert with over 25 years of experience. He served as Secretary of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission from 2014 to 2023, guiding international food standards development and negotiations among more than 180 member countries. He is Director of TVH Global Advisory Limited in Hong Kong and Secretary General of the International Federation for Sustainability and Justice in Vienna, connecting civil society, business and international organizations to advance food systems transformation. As Senior Advisor to the Food Safety Consortium in Hong Kong, he has supported preparations for the Food as Medicine conferences in 2024 and 2026. His contributions have been recognized with the Chinese Government Friendship Award and France’s Order of Agricultural Merit. 

Professor Myeong Soo Lee is a Principal Researcher at the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM), South Korea. He received his PhD in Oriental Medicine from Wonkwang University in 2004 and completed research training in evidence-based complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School, University of Exeter, UK. He has held academic appointments at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou University, the Affiliated TCM Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is also a Research Affiliate at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He leads Cochrane Complementary Medicine Korea. In 2026, he was appointed to the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (WHO STAG-TM). He has published over 600 SCIE articles, serves on 30+ journal editorial boards, and ranks among Stanford’s top 2% scientists.

Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Co-Chairman of the Board of Director of the ChinaSCINet (www.chinascinet.org ), and Editor-in-Chief of Neural Regeneration Research (www.nrronline.org ). Received PhD degree from MIT. He is one of the pioneers in the field of axonal regeneration in visual system. He was the first to show lengthy regeneration of retinal ganglion cells in adult mammals with peripheral nerve graft. He is currently using multiple approaches to promote axonal regeneration after injury in the optic nerve and spinal cord. His team identifies neuroprotective and regenerative factors including: exercise, wolfberry, trophic factors, peptide nanofiber scaffold, and environmental manipulation. 1995 obtained the Natural Science Award of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. 1999 was elected Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 2015 was elected FNAI, US National Academy of Inventors, Fellow.

Prof. Amie Steel is a Professor in Public Health and Director of the Australian Research Consortium in Complementary and Integrative Medicine at Southern Cross University. She is also an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and currently serves as the research lead for the World Health Organization’s Global Research Priority Setting Exercise in Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM). With over 300 scholarly publications, her research explores the integration, regulation, and practice of traditional medicine within contemporary health systems. Her work spans women’s health—particularly fertility, pregnancy, and preconception care—as well as the interface between evidence-based medicine and traditional health practices. Methodologically, she specializes in mixed methods research, implementation science, knowledge mobilisation, and pragmatic clinical trials within applied health services research.

Professor Zhang is currently a Chair Professor and Associate Dean at the School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University. He obtained his Ph.D. in phytochemistry, and became a faculty member at the Kunming Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences until 2002. From 2003 to 2011, he was a research faculty member at the College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois Chicago. Professor Zhang specializes in the identification, analysis, synthesis, and biological evaluation of small molecules. Professor Zhang’s research focuses on drug discovery and development from natural resources, as well as the formulation of botanical dietary supplements from herbal medicines. He is particularly interested in identifying natural lead compounds from plants native to the Lingnan region of China and translating them into health products for humans and animals. Target indications include cancer, viruses such as HIV, coronaviruses, flaviviruses, influenza viruses and Ebola viruses, dental pathogens, fungal infections, and malarial.