Speaker

Richard Stone is the senior international correspondent for the weekly journal Science. He also serves as Special Advisor, Science Diplomacy and Engagement, for the international Human Frontier Science Program organization in Strasbourg, France. His overseas experience includes stints as a Fulbright Scholar at Rostov State University in Rostov-on-Don, Russia in 1995- 96 and at Kazakh National University in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2004-05. Stone opened the Beijing bureau of Science in 2007, and spent 5 years in China. Among many highlights, he and Bruce Alberts, President Emeritus of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, interviewed former Premier Wen Jiabao for Science in 2008. He is the author of the nonfiction book Mammoth: The Resurrection of an Ice Age Giant.

JP; MBBS(HK); ChM(Liv); FRCS(Eng, Edin, Glas, and Ire); FRCPCH; FHKAM (Surgery);HKAS member Prof. Paul K.H. Tam is a renowned surgeon, scientist, educator and university leader. He is Chair Professor and Vice-President of the Macau University of Science and Technology, and Emeritus Professor and Honorary Clinical Professor of the University of Hong Kong Professor Tam has special interests in minimal invasive surgery, genetics and regenerative medicine of birth defects especially Hirschsprung’s disease and biliary atresia. He has published 505 articles in internationally refereed journals with 35,314 citations and h-index = 66. He has received numerous awards including the 2017 Denis Browne Gold Medal- the highest award of the BAPS, the 2020 Rehbein Medal by the European Paediatric Surgeons’ Association.

Doctor, Associate Researcher, Supervisor of Master’s Degree Students, Future Leader of Key Discipline in Shanghai’s Traditional Chinese Medicine, Member of the Sensory and Motor Special Committee of the Chinese Neuroscience Society, and Young Member of the Brain Disease Branch of the Chinese Materia Medica Society. Mainly engaged in the research on the mechanism of refractory epilepsy and individualized treatment. Selected for the Chinese Materia Medica Young Talent Support Program, Shanghai Oriental Talent Young Program, Shanghai Outstanding Young Medical Talent, Shanghai Silver Snake Award Nomination Award and Silver Snake Award – Hengjie Special Support Program. Published 37 SCI papers as the first author, co-first author or corresponding author in academic journals such as J Hepatol, BJP, JMC and Acta Pharmacol Sin. As the first principal investigator, won the second prize of Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Science. Has undertaken 4 National Natural Science Foundation projects and 4 provincial and ministerial projects.

Prof. Tse Hung-Fat, MBBS, MD, PhD, FACC, FRCP, FESC Prof. Hung-Fat Tse is Chair Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, and William MW Mong Professor in Cardiology; Chairpersons and Chief of Service of the Department of Medicine; Chief in the Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital; Co director, Cardiac & Vascular Center, The University of Hong Kong – Shenzhen Hospital. He is also the academic lead, HKUMed Laboratory of Cellular Therapeutics, The University of Hong Kong. He is a clinician scientist and an international expert in cardiovascular medicine, including cardiac pacing, clinical electrophysiology, and cardiovascular regeneration. Prof. Tse is one of the pioneers for novel therapies, including stem cell and devices for treatment of cardiovascular diseases. He has established the large animal laboratory for cardiovascular research as well the “Good Manufacturing Practice” laboratory for human stem cells and biological therapies in the University of Hong Kong. He has been awarded multiple major local grants (including the Theme Based Research Grant, Research Impact Fund and Innohealth) as well as national research grants (National Natural Science Foundation of China and 973 grants) for his researches. He has been participated into many international and regional clinical trials and studies, and is currently the Associate Editors for several international journals, including Cardiovascular Diabetology, Frontier in Cardiovascular Medicine, Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology and Journal of Arrhythmia. He has published over 730 scientific publications in international top-ranking scientific journals, including New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Genetic, Nature Protocol, Nature Communication, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Disease Primer, Cell Stem Cell, Circulation, Journal of American College of Cardiology, and European Heart Journal.

Lü Zhi has a long-term experience in cross-disciplinary researches on nature conservation and human sustainable development. She conducted field researches on the giant pandas and the snow leopard in western China and has expanded her work to promote biodiversity in cities and farmlands in recent years. She also deeply engaged in conservation practices especially community-based initiatives. For years she devoted to build a bridge between research and practice to better understand the interlinks between nature and people, and to provide empirical and practical solutions for their coexistence.

MD/PhD, Psychiatrist/Professor, Director of the Brain Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. He is also the director of the Institute of Neuroscience of Zhejiang University, Chairman of the School of Medicine Council and Vice President of Zhejiang University. Graduated from the former First Military Medical University, Prof. Li received his bachelor’s and a doctoral degree in medicine. Previously, he served as Assistant Dean of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Vice President of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Executive Dean of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, etc. Prof. Li has been engaged in teaching, scientific research and clinical work of mental diseases for a long time, focusing on understanding the circuit and molecular mechanisms underlying the emotions and related disorders, in identifying targets to develop therapeutic strategies for treating psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression disorders. He is the chief scientist of the Major Project of the National Natural Science Foundation “Mechanisms and Clinical Translation of Anxiety Disorder” and the Major Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology “Research on the Neural Circuit Mechanism of Fear Emotion”. Representative papers have been published in Cell, Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Biological Psychiatry, etc. He also obtained a number of invention patents such as diagnostic kit for depression. Prof. Li has received the National Distinguished Youth Fund. His numerous honors include the First Prize of the Chinese Medical Science and Technology, the Tan Jiazhen Life Scientific Innovation Award, the Wu-Yang Award, and the Chinese Society for Neuroscience-CST Outstanding Neuroscientist Award.

Dr. Xitong Liang is an Assistant Professor at the School of Life Sciences, Peking University, and an Investigator at the IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Center for Quantitative Biology, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences. He received B.S. in Biology from Peking University and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis, USA. Dr. Liang conducted his postdoctoral research with Prof. Gilles Laurent at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Germany. Using cephalopods (e.g., octopus, squid, and cuttlefish) as a novel model system, his research explores the diversity and evolution of animal behavior, AI for neuroscience, and brain-inspired AI.

Dr. Haisheng Zhang is the Founder and CEO of Signet Therapeutics, and currently serves as Director of the Cancer Targeted Therapy Center at Tsinghua Shenzhen Institute and a dual-appointed professor at Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University. He completed postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Dr. Zhang has long focused on targeted therapy and companion diagnostics for gastric
cancer, publishing over ten papers in top journals such as Cancer Discovery and Gut,
and was the first to identify a key target for diffuse gastric cancer.
In 2020, he founded Signet Therapeutics, the first company to integrate organoids and AI for innovative cancer drug discovery. The company’s lead drug, SIGX1094, is the world’s first targeted therapy for diffuse gastric cancer and is currently in Phase I trials at Peking University Cancer Hospital. It has received FDA Orphan Drug and Fast Track designations.
Dr. Zhang has been honored as a “Top Emerging Entrepreneur” in Shenzhen’s Ten Outstanding Young Entrepreneurs and listed in 36Kr’s “36 Under 36 Entrepreneurs.”

Zhou Hua is the Vice President and Secretary-General of the Chinese Health Association, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of China High-Tech Magazine, Vice Chairman of the Nobel Laureates’ Home, Member of the National Commission for the Review of Scientific and Technological Terminology, Distinguished Expert at the National Elderly Network, Vice President and Deputy Director of the Expert Committee at the New Century Institute of Management Science and Engineering, Deputy Director of the Expert Committee for the National Charity Federation’s Grand Health Industry Committee.

Professional Background:

Extensive leadership experience in government departments and China’s top-tier tertiary hospitals. Co-editor-in-chief of Digital Health Management: Theory and Practice and Food Studies (textbook for primary and secondary school students). Deep expertise in lifelong health management and the grand health industry. Published numerous articles in authoritative media outlets, including Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily Online, China.org.cn, Toutiao, and Phoenix News.

Dr. Jiayi Zhang received her B. Sc. Degree from Hong Kong Baptist University and Ph.D. degree from Brown University. She was a Brown-Coxe postdoctoral fellow in Yale University and joined Institutes of Brain Science at Fudan University in 2012. Her recent work focused on the decoding and restoration of vision. Her work was published in journals including Science, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Neuron and Nature Communications （ 3 ） . She received the State Science and Technology Advancement Award in 2023 and the Young Innovative Woman Award in Shanghai in 2020. She serves as the Vice chairman of the Neurotechnology Panel, Chinese Neuroscience Society (CNS). She is on the editorial board of Progress in Retina and Eye Research. She is currently the vice director of State Key Laboratory for Medical Neurobiology and the vice dean of Institute for Medical and Engineering Innovation at Fudan Affiliated Eye & ENT Hospital.