BGI Genomics’ partnership to tailor a global proactive health solution for Thailand

"I got an opportunity to create another opportunity," says Chatchai Nopvichai — Boon, as everyone calls him. He speaks quickly, leaning forward as if not to waste a second. For him, opportunity is not something you keep; it's something you multiply.

Boon is the project development manager at Bangkok Genomics Innovation (BKGI), a joint venture between BGI Genomics and local partners in Thailand. His role is at the intersection of global science and local healthcare.

BKGI itself is a good example of the Belt and Road Initiative, a bridge of technology and knowledge flowing between China and Thailand. For Boon, that bridge is the reason ideas once out of reach in Thai hospitals are now being shaped into real projects.

Advanced Tech Bring Ideas Alive

He remembers his years in medical school and later as a lecturer, when thoughts about proactive health management often came up. They never went further than sketches on paper.  "You had ideas, but you couldn't push them through," he recalls. The resources weren't there, the pace was slow.

What was once theory is now possible: with BGI Genomics' technologies as a foundation, BKGI is adapting global science for Thai needs by building systems to detect risks earlier, intervene sooner, and shift care from late treatment to prevention.

This shift has a name: the 133111i Multi-Omics Precision Health Management System, officially launched at BGI Genomics' 26th corporate anniversary. For Boon, the concept feels familiar. He once imagined a similar framework, but without technology, it stayed an idea.

Global Solution Local Adaption

Today, BKGI is working to bring a similar proactive health management solution into Thailand, with adjustments for local concerns. "CT and MRI is quite expensive in Thailand, use them as the health screening is called as the over practice here. " he says. "So the approach has to be adapted. But the principle is the same, a comprehensive, proactive model for health."

The ambition is not limited to private clinics. While the program will begin as a premium service, the goal is to prove its effectiveness and eventually integrate it into the national healthcare system.

Boon points to the success of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), which followed the same path — first adopted privately, later reimbursed nationally. "It starts as expensive," he says, "but if it shows value, it can reach everyone."

Prevention for All

For Boon, the urgency is also personal. His mother is battling cancer; thankfully, she is responding well to the medication.

"My mother is the lucky one, but not everyone is as lucky as her." That experience, he says, reinforced his belief that waiting until illness advances is no longer enough.

"What if we don't need to wait until the tumor appears?" he asks. "What if we can intervene earlier?" He believes that prevention is the real opportunity. 

That sense of persistence has shaped much of his life. Boon once trained as a national-level Kendo athlete. Injuries repeatedly forced him to change his style. When his right shoulder broke, he fought left-handed. When his left wrist failed, he shifted to a rare two-sword approach.

"When you fail, you either stop or you find another way," he says. The lesson stayed with him. Just as in fencing, where every obstacle demanded a new method, in healthcare, he sees the same principle of finding another path, but never stops moving.

Create Opportunities for Life

It's an attitude that resonates with BGI Genomics. He recalls a remark: "We have one hundred projects. Just with one success, we save millions of people in the world."

For Boon, that's what opportunity means — not certainty, but the chance to make something possible. He tells younger employees to see it the same way: every project, every idea, is a seed for others.

Looking ahead, Boon believes Thailand is only at the beginning of what proactive healthcare can become. Genetic screening, advanced sequencing, and risk prediction models are no longer distant possibilities. They are tools BKGI and BGI Genomics are putting into practice, step by step, in collaboration across borders.

About BGI Genomics

BGI Genomics, headquartered in Shenzhen, China, is the world's leading integrated solutions provider of precision medicine. Its services cover more than 100 countries and regions and involve more than 2,300 medical institutions. In July 2017, as a subsidiary of BGI Group, BGI Genomics (300676.SZ) officially began trading on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.