Rui Nunes, was born at Porto, Portugal, European Union. He has got a Medical Doctor degree in 1985 (Porto University) and a PhD in Bioethics in 1996 (Porto University). With regards his professional activity he is Full Professor of Medical Sociology and Bioethics at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto and he was Director of the Department of Social Sciences & Health of this University. He is Director of the Master and PhD Course on Bioethics since 1998, Director of the Master and PhD Course on Palliative Care since 2009 and Director of the Post-graduation Course in Hospital Management since 2006.

Since 2002 he has been elected President of the Portuguese Association of Bioethics and between 2003 and 2009 he was an elected member (Parliament) of the National Council of Ethics for Life Sciences. He was President of the Regulatory Authority of Health the first independent healthcare regulatory agency created in Portugal. He was also a member of the board of the European Health Management Association and of the International Society for Priorities in Health. He was director of the Program Porto City of Science and he is the Head of the Research Department of the International Network– UNESCO Chair in Bioethics. He is the co-chair of the Ibero-American Network of Echo-Bioethics. In 2019 he got the title of Honoris Causa Professor by the University of Favaloro, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

His postgraduate activities included the organization of many seminars, congresses, and workshops. In particular the National Congress on Bioethics that is now at its 16th edition and the World Conference on Bioethics, Medical Ethics & Health Law that is now at its 14th edition. He has published29 books in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, over ethical, social, cultural, and legal themes and 300 full papers.