Professor Gerard Bodeker is a public health researcher and academic specializing in lifespan wellness and integrative healthcare. An Australian whose doctoral studies were at Harvard, he has spent two decades in medical sciences at Oxford University, and is an adjunct professor of epidemiology at Columbia University. He Chairs the Ayurveda Advisory Group at Western Sydney University, where he is an Adjunct Professor in health science. He has been engaged in traditional medicinal plant research for more than three decades and is a Fellow of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). He has worked with several UN organizations, including the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the UN Food & Agriculture Organization, the UN Development Programme and the UN Environment Programme. And has served in an advisory capacity to health and wellness organizations in Europe, Asia and the Middle East on wellness development and personal wellbeing pathways. Gerry’s work on wellness destination development has been covered in Forbes, Travel & Leisure, the South China Morning Post and the Robb Report. He has been an advisor to National Geographic and features in the BBC’s 'In Pursuit of Wellness'. He served as Senior Consultant to CNN's series 'Chasing Life' with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr Sanjay Gupta. Gerry chaired the Commonwealth Working Group on Traditional and Complementary Medicine, served as editor in chief of the World Health Organization Global Atlas of Traditional and Complementary Medicine and is a co-editor on a recent book by the Asian Development Bank on WELLNESS FOR A HEALTHY ASIA (2021). He is lead author on a chapter on Wellbeing and Mental Wellness in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Global Public Health (2020). With colleagues, he published in July 2022, a book on HEALTHY AGEING IN ASIA: CULTURE, PREVENTION & WELLNESS: https://www.routledge.com/Healthy-Ageing-in-Asia-Culture-Prevention-and-Wellness/Soon-Bodeker-Kariippanon/p/book/9780367473884Gerry is Founding Chair of the Mental Wellness Initiative of the Global Wellness Institute: https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/initiatives/mental-wellness-initiative/ and a recipient of Debra Simon Award - Leader in Furthering Mental Wellness, issued by Global Wellness Institute July 2019.