APAC Health Summit 2026
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One Farrer Hotel Singapore, 27 September 2026
About the event — the Oxford Nanopore APAC Health Summit is an invitation-only meeting bringing together leaders from clinical genomics, healthcare, policy, and translational research to explore how genomics can move from insight to real-world healthcare impact across the region.
What to expect — Across a focused one-day programme of plenary sessions, panel discussions, roundtables, and networking, the summit will examine the opportunities and challenges involved in advancing clinical genomics, from diagnostic pathways and implementation models to health economics, screening, and prevention.
Summit theme — Under the theme “Crossing the chasm: from genomic insight to clinical impact,” the event is designed to spark discussion around how genomic technologies may support future healthcare strategies and evidence generation.
Please note that this is an in-person event by invitation only. To enquire about attendance please contact events@nanoporetech.com.
Why join us?
Hear from regional and global leaders across healthcare, academia, and policy as they share perspectives on the evolving role of genomics in healthcare systems.
Explore the path from research to impact in sessions will look at how genomic insight may inform future approaches to diagnosis, service delivery, population health, and prevention, while addressing the practical considerations that shape adoption.
Take part in high-value discussions across a variety of formats. With plenary talks, moderated panels, and executive roundtables, the summit is designed to encourage meaningful exchange on evidence, implementation, and health system priorities.
Build strategic connections across clinical, translational, and policy communities helping to define the future direction of clinical genomics.
Leave with a broader view of the landscape from improving understanding of genomic applications to discussing the conditions needed for impact at scale, the summit is intended to provide context, insight, and cross-sector dialogue for decision-makers.
Important note — Oxford Nanopore products are for research use only and not for use in diagnostic procedures. Discussions at this event will focus on research, translational experience, and the broader clinical genomics landscape.
Agenda
Subject to change
Session | Theme | Presenters |
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Session 1 | From incremental testing to comprehensive answers | Naomichi Matsumoto, Yokohama City University Piers Blomberry, Centre for Molecular Oncology, UNSW Ni-Chung Lee, National Taiwan University Hospital Moderator: David Thomas, Centre for Molecular Oncology, UNSW |
Session 2 | Implementation without friction | Tony Roscioli, NSW Health Pathology Randwick Genomics Joanne Ngeow, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine Motohiro Kato, University of Tokyo Moderator: Matt Brown, King’s College London |
Session 3 | From discovery to prevention | Shuhua Xu, Fudan University Jin-Wu Nam, Hanyang University Moderator: Tiffany Boughtwood, Genomics Australia |
Confirmed presenters
Speakers
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Piers Blombery, Centre for Molecular Oncology, UNSWA/Prof Piers Blombery is clinical and laboratory haematologist and the lead of the molecular haematology service and Wilson Centre for Blood Cancer Genomics at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
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Naomichi Matsumoto, Yokohama City UniversityProfessor of Genetics at the Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama City University, and Director of the university’s Medical Genome Center. His research focuses on genomic analysis of rare diseases, and he has long been engaged in elucidating the causes of hereditary disorders and applying genomic findings to diagnosis and medical care. After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine at Kyushu University in 1986, he gained clinical experience as an obstetrician and gynecologist. He completed his PhD at the Graduate School of Medicine, Nagasaki University, in 1997. Following postdoctoral and research associate positions in the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Chicago, he served as Associate Professor at Nagasaki University before assuming his current position in 2003. He has received numerous awards, including the Young Investigator Award from the Japan Society of Human Genetics (2003), the Japan Society of Human Genetics Award (2011), and the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (Research Category, 2019). In 2025, he received the 11th Rare People Award from Casa Hunter in Brazil. Since October 2023, he has served as President of the Japan Society of Human Genetics.
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Tony Roscioli, NSW Health Pathology Randwick GenomicsI am a clinical genomicist and geneticist at NSW Health Pathology Randwick Genomics and Group Leader, Neurogenomics at NeuRA. My clinical and research career bridges paediatric medicine, human genetics, and translational genomics, with emphasis on gene identification, variant interpretation, and diagnostic panel design. My international work at Radboud University Nijmegen was pivotal in establishing high-yield gene discovery pipelines, identifying multiple genes in intellectual disability (ID) and neuronal migration disorders. I have since led programs in Mendelian gene discovery (>40 novel genes, including Nature Genetics, Cell, and Nature Communications publications), bioinformatic/AI pipelines for next-generation sequencing, and national clinical translation projects such as the MRFF PreGen initiative, which implemented prenatal genomic testing across Australia. My research productivity includes 167 publications (>6,500 citations, h-index 40), with key outputs that have shifted paradigms in genetic diagnosis and clinical practice. My expertise in gene discovery, bioinformatics, and health economics directly aligns with AI-enabled gene panel selection and clinical translation. My current work is in the translation of episignatures and Oxford Nanopore long read sequencing into clinical diagnostics.
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Joanne Ngeow, Lee Kong Chian School of MedicineDr Joanne Ngeow, BMedSci, MBBS, FRCP, MPH is Senior Consultant, Division of Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Centre Singapore and Associate Professor (Genomic Medicine) at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University Singapore. After completing her undergraduate medical school at the University of Melbourne Australia, she returned to Singapore to complete her internal medicine and medical oncology training at the National Cancer Centre Singapore, SingHealth. She was awarded consecutive awards to complete a Cancer Genomic Medicine Fellowship (2010-2014) at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio USA mentored by Professor Charis Eng. Concurrent with her fellowship, she completed her Master of Public Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a major in Health Finance making her one of few clinically cancer geneticists with formal training at the bench, bedside and in health economics globally. Dr Ngeow currently heads the Cancer Genetics Service at the National Cancer Centre Singapore with an academic clinical interest in hereditary cancer syndromes and translational clinical cancer genetics. Dr Ngeow is funded by the National Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist Award to explore how gene-environmental/ lifestyle interactions predisposes to cancer initiation and progression and the equitable implementation of genomics into routine clinical care. Dr Ngeow is one of the Principal Investigators of the Health for Life in Singapore Study (HELIOS), a state-of-the-art multi-ethnic population cohort study based at Nanyang Technological University Dr Ngeow is one of a handful of formally trained clinical cancer geneticists at both the bench and bedside.. Dr Ngeow currently is the incoming Chair-Elect of International Society for Hereditary Gastrointestinal Tumors (InSiGHT) and serves on several National Institutes of Health (NIH) ClinGen Expert Panels. She is a Senior Atlantic Fellow and Equity Initiative Fellow for Health Equity in South East Asia.
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Shuhua Xu, Fudan University Dr. Shuhua Xu is a Professor of Human Population Genetics at Fudan University and Director of the Center for Evolutionary Biology. He leads large-scale population genomics and pangenome initiatives, including the Chinese and Asian Population Pangenome Consortia (CPC & APC), integrating long-read sequencing, structural variation, and chromatin architecture data. His work focuses on building high-resolution genomic resources to support precision medicine, population health, and translational research across diverse Asian populations. Dr. Xu has published in leading journals including Nature, Science, and Cell, and collaborates extensively with academic, clinical, and industry partners worldwide.
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Jin-Wu Nam , Hanyang UniversityJin-Wu Nam is a Professor and Principal Investigator at the Department of Life Science, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea, where he leads the Bioinformatics and Genomics Lab (BIGLab). His research sits at the intersection of computational biology, RNA biology, epitranscriptomics, nanopore long-read sequencing, and AI-driven bioinformatics.
Panelists
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Ni-Chung Lee, National Taiwan University HospitalI am a Pediatrician and a specialist in clinical genetics. I am the Clinical Professor at National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University Children’s Hospital. I have been interested in the molecular diagnosis for rare inherited metabolic diseases and congenital malformations. My research includes the developing gene therapy for rare genetic disorders and molecular diagnosis for rare Genetic syndromes using next generation sequencing and long read sequencing.
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Motohiro Kato, University of Tokyo
Panel moderators
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David Thomas, Centre for Molecular Oncology, UNSWProf David Thomas is the inaugural Director of the Centre for Molecular Oncology at the University of New South Wales and Chief Strategy and Science Officer at Omico. As a clinician-scientist, his focus is on the application of genomic technologies to the understanding and management of cancer, particularly sarcoma. He established the not-for-profit company, Australian Genomic Cancer Medicine Centre, trading as Omico, to lead a national precision medicine program for patients with rare and early onset cancers. He has over 200 research publications, including lead or senior author papers in Science.
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Matt Brown , King's College London Matt Brown is a clinician-scientist who trained initially in medicine and rheumatology in Sydney, Australia before completing a Doctorate of Medicine based at University of Oxford, focusing on genetics of ankylosing spondylitis. In 2013 he was elected to Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Sciences in recognition for his achievements in genetics research. From 2021-26 he was Chief Scientific Officer of Genomics England, and is now Professor of Medicine at King’s College London. He continues to work in genetics of human diseases, with a particular focus on common and rare bone and joint diseases, and in cancer genomics and personalized medicine. He continues to practice rheumatology, with a particular focus on spondyloarthritis.
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Tiffany Boughtwood, Genomics Australia Tiffany Boughtwood is the inaugural Australian Health Genomics Commissioner, guiding the work of Genomics Australia and providing advice to Government based on broad engagement with the genomics sector and community.
Tiffany has 30 years’ experience in molecular biology and management: leading academic and diagnostic genomic programs; collaborating internationally in genomic research; and consulting in health genomic implementation.
She was the Managing Director of Australian Genomics, a national collaborative supporting genomic research and its translation into clinical practice. She served on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council for Biotechnology and the WHO Collective Global Network for Rare Disease. Tiffany is a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Genomics, is on the Strategic Leadership Committee for the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, and is an International Advisor to the MyGenom Project Malaysia.
