7:30pm – 8:00pm

Registration

8:00pm – 9:30pm

Welcome Dinner hosted by NUS Medicine International Council (NIC) 

9:30pm

End of day 1 programme

All delegates dispersed to return to hotel on their own.

8:30am

NIC delegates gather at Meeting Point: Petriano Gate, located in Piazza del Sant’uffizio

9:30am – 9:35am

Conference Welcome Remarks 

by Mr Valter SPANO, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Ultrastructural Biophysics Research Institute (UBRI) and NIC member, Italy; and Mr Vishal HARNAL, Advisor to the UBRI Board and Global Managing Partner, 500 Global, Singapore

Conference Opening Remarks by Professor Kishore MAHBUBANI

Chairman, NUS Medicine International Council (NIC), Singapore

9:35am – 9:45am

Guest of Honour Keynote by His Excellency Orazio SCHILLACI

Minister of Health, Minister’s Office, Italy

Minister’s perspectives on the geopolitical context, regional dynamics, and macro-environment shaping healthcare and broader global developments, including insights from the Italian and European vantage point.

9:45am – 9:50am

VIP Keynote by Mr Andrea URBANI

Director of the Health and Social Health Integration Directorate of the Lazio Region, Italy

9:50am – 10:35am

Talk on Geopolitics by Professor Kishore MAHBUBANI

Chairman, NUS Medicine International Council (NIC), Singapore

10:35am – 11:00am

Morning tea break

11:00am – 11:40am

The Exposome Frontier: Measuring What Makes Us Ill — and Turning It into Medicine

1. Beyond Our Genes: The Exposome and the Diseases We Can Prevent
by Professor Vasilis VASILIOU

Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology and Director of Global Environmental Health and Translational Exposomics, Yale School of Public Health; Editor-in-Chief of Human Genomics, United States of America

Our genes explain only a fraction of why people get sick. The rest is shaped by how and where we live: the air we breathe and the chemicals we absorb, what we eat, how we sleep and move, and the stress, poverty, and neighborhoods that surround us from birth. Together, this lifetime of exposures is the exposome, and until recently it was unmeasurable. It is now measurable. A single drop of blood can reveal thousands of chemicals and their molecular footprints, while wearables, satellite, and neighborhood data capture behavior, environment, and social conditions in real time. This talk shows what exposomics can already detect, why it reframes chronic disease as largely preventable rather than inherited, and what is still missing: the global infrastructure that genomics built twenty years ago and the exposome does not yet have. Building it is the highest-return investment in health available today, because it turns disease we currently treat into disease we can stop before it starts.

2. From Broccoli to Biotech: Turning the Exposome into Medicine
by Professor Giuseppe NOVELLI

Full Professor of Medical Genetics, University of Rome Tor Vergata; WP4 Lead, UNDINE Horizon Europe Consortium, Italy

If the exposome is the route through which the environment enters the body and makes us ill, the same route can be run in reverse — and used to treat us. This talk tells the story of one such case, from laboratory to market. SARS-CoV-2 cannot leave an infected cell without hijacking a family of human enzymes, the HECT E3 ubiquitin ligases. Indole-3-carbinol, a natural compound found in broccoli and other Brassicaceae, blocks them—stopping the virus and calming the inflammatory storm that kills patients at once. The obstacle was delivery: gastric acid destroys the molecule before it reaches the lungs. Our solution came from the plant itself. We isolated the natural nanovesicles that broccoli uses to transport its own molecules, loaded them with the active compound, and used them as a Trojan horse that survives digestion and delivers an intact drug to infected lung tissue. In animals with virus-induced respiratory failure, treatment delayed disease, accelerated recovery, cleared the virus, and suppressed inflammation. Funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe UNDINE project, the platform has just been classified “Business Ready” by the European Commission’s Innovation Radar, with an industrial partner already engaged. Because the vehicle is food rather than chemistry, the route to people is measured in years, not decades. And the vehicle is not limited to one molecule: it is a delivery platform for a whole class of host-directed therapies.

11:40am – 11:50am

Intermission

11:50am – 12:05pm

1. Tribute to Professor Bruno BRANDIMARTE

Nuclear physicist and pioneer of physics-based medicine; and Scientific Director of the UBRI scientific committee, Italy

2. Skin Pathophysiology, Skin Barrier and Perspectives in Drug Delivery of Skin Diseases

by Professor Giovanni PELLACANI, Chairman of the Dermatology Clinic of Dermatology of the University La Sapienza, Roma, and President of the Italian Dermatologic Society (SIDEMAST), Italy

12:05pm – 12:30pm

Update on NUS Medicine by Professor Yap Seng CHONG

Dean, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), Singapore

12:30pm – 2:00pm

Lunch

Rome: Thursday, 29 October 2026, 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Chicago: Thursday, 29 October 2026, 8:00am – 9:00am

Keynote by Professor Robert PAPE on “How is the Iran War Changing the Global Rules of Power” 

Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago, United States of America

Moderator: Professor Kishore MAHBUBANI

Chairman, NUS Medicine International Council (NIC), Singapore

3:00pm – 3:50pm

NIC Chairman, Professor Kishore MAHBUBANI’S Dialogue with Mr George YEO, Former Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs

3:50pm – 4:20pm

Tea break

4:20pm – 5:00pm

On the Cutting Edge

1. Innovative Devices for Healthcare

by Professor Massimiliano PAPI, Professor of Applied Physics and Head of the 3D Bioprinting and Biofabrication Facility (G-STEP) at the Gemelli University Hospital in Rome, Italy

2. Novel Concepts in Neurological Diseases and The Potential Role of Innovative Medical Devices (For Pain, Degenerative Diseases and Cognitive Functions)

by Professor Marco PERESSON, Director Neurological Unit Ospedale FbF San Pietro Rome, and Professor of Advance Neurophysiology Postgraduate School of Neurology Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore-Rome, Italy; and Professor Massimiliano PAPI, Professor of Applied Physics and Head of the 3D Bioprinting and Biofabrication Facility (G-STEP) at the Gemelli University Hospital in Rome, Italy

3. Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) mininvasive surgery and innovative therapeutic approaches using novel devices and micronised inhaled natural products mixtures

by Professor Lino DI RIENZO BUSINCO, Surgeon specialised in Otorhinolaryngology and Audiology, Italy; and Professor Giovanni ZAPPIA, Professor of Organic Chemistry at Università Telematica ‘’San Raffaele’’ Roma and Head of Research and Development at Umolsystem Srl, Italy

5:00pm – 5:10pm

Intermission

5:10pm – 6:00pm

Innovation Showcase

1. Rewiring The Gut: The Impact of Neuromodulation in Gastrointestinal Disorders

by Professor Ivo BOŠKOSKI, Associate Professor of Gastroenterology; Interventional Endoscopist; and Clinical Innovator, Italy

2. The Evolving Concept of Local Treatment for Cancer and Side Effects of Systemic Therapy

by Professor Giampaolo TORTORA, Director of Medical Oncology and Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Gemelli IRCCS in Rome, and Full Professor of Medical Oncology at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, in Rome, Italy

3. Actionable Therapies After Genomic Sequencing of Breast Cancer

by Professor Virgilio SACCHINI, Attending breast surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell and the Universita’ Statale di Milano, Italy

4. Future Challenges for Medicine and/In the Global Healthcare Markets

by Mr Valter SPANO, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Ultrastructural Biophysics Research Institute (UBRI), Italy; and Mr Vishal HARNAL, Advisor to the UBRI Board; Board Director and Global Managing Partner at 500 Global, Singapore

6:00pm – 7:00pm

Free and easy time

7:00pm – 8:30pm

Closing Dinner hosted by Dr Bruno RUGGIERO

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, 9th Dimension Biotech, Inc., United States of America

8:30pm

End of day 2 programme

8:30am

NIC delegates gather at Meeting Point.

9:00am

Mass — Enjoy a special performance by two NUS Medical Students, Ms Rachel WONG (Phase 4) and Ms Raeanne WONG (Phase 3), who will be joining in the Mass

Exclusive Tour of the Vatican arranged by UBRI with Head Priest in charge

Afternoon

Aperitif at Private Art Gallery

The gallery is powered by the financial and cultural influence of Italian businessman Alessandro Benetton, Chairman of Edizione, and prominent gallerist Massimiliano Mucciaccia, alongside co-founder Davide Vanin. Besides its market credibility and capital backing, the gallery space is a physical masterpiece in its own right. The design seamlessly blends sleek, modern gallery aesthetics with the historic architecture of Rome. Rather than operating purely as a shop for paintings, it functions as part of an ecosystem of elite collectors, corporate partners, and modern artists, brought together in a strategic multi-city cultural network that positions itself as a dominant force in the North-Italian and Mediterranean art markets.

4:30pm

End of NIC Vatican Conference programme