Now we are using modern scientific methods, geriatrics methods <…> to interfere with philosophical thought: what is right and what is wrong? What is beyond humaneness? <…> Geriatrics should turn into <…> an area of medicine that manages ageing. <…> I believe it could be one of the most humane sciences. How should we age to make it <…> as comfortable and convenient <…> as possible for both the ageing person and people around them? <…> Achievements of today’s science make us reconsider the humaneness aspect, — Alexander Sergeev, President, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Science should help <…> the body fight. In order to get there, we need to develop the technology for rehabilitative medicine. <…> We need to learn how to build health and disease incidence <…> projection models. Together with economists, we need to use them for understanding and calculating the economic potential and necessary funds. <…> We need to create a health management system with the use all achievements in all sciences, including non-linear mathematics, — Alexander Rasumov, President, National Spa Association; Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Technological breakthroughs <…> change the environment around us regardless of the pandemic. They have sped up the process. They change how we interact with each other, how we learn and what we fill our spare time with. <…> What would be the right response to this challenge? How do we find a response that is not purely technological? <…> It is a complex global challenge. Responding to it will require everybody to combine their efforts. By everybody I mean humanities scholars, social scientists, psychologists, historians, medical professionals, <…> and, of course, those involved in technology, — Arutyun Avetisyan, Director, Institute for System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Education and research are very important. If we did not have research before, we would not have vaccines now. Some vaccines, including Sputnik, did not take long to be developed because certain research was done prior to that. <…> Technologies and technical solutions are just as important as medical solutions. <…> It is a complex problem that requires a complex solution that should be driven by medicine, <…> technology, and politics or public administration, — Mounir Hamdi, Founding Dean, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University.

We need to be prepared <…> in terms of organization and economic decisions. <…> We need to organize the work of any in-patient unit, clinic or medical centre in a different way. <…> Minimally invasive methods <…> should be routinely used. It will help avoid many problems <…> we have faced. <…> We should not turn into healers. We should apply scientific methods in practical medicine, — Sergey Popov, Head, St. Petersburg Centre for Endoscopic Urology and New Technologies.

The pandemic has shown that the end goal is to maximize people’s wellbeing instead of maximizing the GDP. This is why the economy gets sacrificed for saving lives when it is needed, and the society is ready for that. <…> On the other hand, <…> people are a production factor and a resource. <…> On par with technology, human capital is among the most important things, — Ruben Enikolopov, Rector, New Economic School.

As defined by rheumatologists, science and life are science and the quality of life. It means that pain is main symptom in all the diseases we face. <…> In this situation, the quality of life is a defining factor for every patient. <…> If a patient’s record says ‘remission’, it means nothing ails them. <…> Medications we have used for other diseases <…> appear to be applicable to COVID, — Aleksandr Lila, Director, V.A. Nasonova Research Institute of Rheumatology.

The average life expectancy is growing. <…> The question is whether we are ready for that in terms of ethics, mentality, and infrastructure. For the first time in the world’s history, aged people are not a minority. <…> Do we have education, fashion, entertainment, healthcare, and medicine for them? <…> We have almost reached the point where we will have to at least think of changing the paradigm of medicine. Now we find ourselves at the preventive medicine paradigm. <…> Medicine of ageing or ageing management medicine should be our next stage. <…> We need to be able to affect ageing and its processes. <…> Unfortunately, now we <…> do not have a comprehensive approach to ageing and we do not communicate enough. Naturally, we all want to live a long and healthy life, — Olga Tkacheva, Director of the Russian Gerontology Clinical Center, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University of the Ministry the Healthcare of The Russian Federation.

People born between 1930 and 1980 have a 20% higher IQ than people born after 1980. <…> If IQ levels drop every year, <…> why do we need this scientific and technological progress at all? <…> Neurodegenerative diseases are found in younger people and lead to lower IQ levels. <…> Modern medicine has made absolutely fantastic breakthroughs. <…> Resuscitation and neurocritical care <…> can bring pretty much anybody back to life. <…> Yet, is it humane? <…> If we want human civilization to progress, we need to think about our mental health first and foremost instead of just caring about health in general, because our brain is us, — Mikhail Piradov, Director, The Research Center of Neurology.

Today, infectious diseases are insidious, as they have a latent effect on reproductive health. I mean in diseases significant for reproductive health and the shift in human microbiome that has a significant effect on that. <…> We lose 70–80% of conception products, — Igor Kogan, Director, D.O. Ott Research Institute of Obstetrics, Gynaecology, and Reproductive Medicine.

Online training may be ok for engineers, physicists, or chemists. <…> How can we train doctors remotely? It is a total failure of the fundamental medical training. <…> I would say that we should treat bringing education back to normal as our key objective. <…> This failure will probably take years to overcome. <…> Let’s hope we are able to recover a whole year of training doctors failed to get, — Mikhail Piradov, Director, The Research Center of Neurology.

If we want to build a health culture in our society, <…> we need to set it as an objective. Who do we adapt it to? <…> If we adapt it to people that use digital technologies and are educated, we need to give them a different impetus to use their intellect. <…> We need to understand what we can offer older people to make their life more active, — Alexander Rasumov, President, National Spa Association; Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

We will have to assess the lack of physical activity. <…> When it comes to longevity, <…> we think about high technologies, <…> etc. Yet, there are simple things we need to introduce. If you take adults who do sports, <…> 3 out 4 are those who did sports, when they were children. <…> We need to invest effort in it, — Victoria Badtieva, Head of Branch No. 1, Moscow Centre for Research and Practice in Medical Rehabilitation, Restorative and Sports Medicine, City of Moscow Department of Health.

The challenge of ageing <…> is that we want to die in the same condition as we were in our young days. It is also part of this story: what we eat, how we affect nature, how we manage <…> agriculture, as well as the balance with the planet. Preventive medicine and food as a preventive measure are also important, — Riccardo Valentini, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Professor, University of Tuscia.

If quality of medical rehabilitation is any indication, we are yet to deal with regulation of medical and social rehabilitation. <…> A whole set of legislative acts is being prepared to find a comprehensive solution for this problem. If we manage to cover whole categories in the next several years, we will be able to say that we did a good job developing the humanitarian potential of bioscience in the early 21st century, — Gennady Ponomarenko, General Director, Federal Scientific Center of Rehabilitation of the Disabled named after G.A. Albrecht of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Russian Federation.