Rui Nunes was born at Porto, Portugal, European Union (1961). He has got a Medical Doctor degree in 1985 (Porto University) and a Ph.D. in Bioethics in 1996 (Porto University). With regards his professional activity he is Professor at the School of Medicine, Porto University, since 1996 (Bioethics and Medical Ethics) and Director of the Department of Bioethics and Medical Ethics of the School of Medicine, Porto University, since 1997. He is also co-ordinator of the Master Course on Bioethics (Porto University) since 1998, the first master course on Bioethics in Portugal.

He is affiliated to many international organisations, in particular the Kennedy Institute of Ethics (USA), the Hastings Center (USA), and the International Society on Priorities on Healthcare (UK). Since 1999 he is member of the Ethics Committee of the Medical Council (Portugal), since 2002 he has been elected President of the Portuguese Association of Bioethics and since 2003 he is an elected member (Parliament) of The National Council of Ethics for Life Sciences (Portugal). Since March 2004 he was nominated by the prime-minister of the Portuguese government President of the Regulatory Authority of Health. 

His main areas of research are: 1) Genetic diagnosis and the status of the human embryo (Biomed II, EU project PL 950207, Centre for Ethics and Law, Copenhagen); 2) Allocation of healthcare resources and the theory of justice (Biomed II, EU Project “Europriorities”, BMH 4 CT 96-096-0966 (DG 12-SSMA, Department of Medical Ethics, Lund University); 3) Benchmarks of Fairness for Health Care Reform, in collaboration with Norman Daniels, Harvard School of Public Health; 4) Ethical issues of evidence-based practice in medicine and health care, (EU-Project QLRT 1999- 30964 Evibase, Maastricht).

His postgraduate activities included the organisation of many seminars, congresses and workshops. In particular the First National Congress of Bioethics (Genetics and Reproduction), June 2000; the Second National Congress of Bioethics (Genome and Human Dignity) October 2001; the Third National Congress of Bioethics (Allocation of Healthcare Resources) May 2002; the Fourth National Congress of Bioethics (Drug Addiction and Social Values) May 2003, the Fifth National Congress of Bioethics (Challenges to Human Sexuality) May 2004, and the Sixth National Congress of Bioethics (Humanisation in Healthcare) May 2005.

He has published 14 books (Portuguese) over ethical and health themes, 90 full papers and 69 abstracts, and 410 oral presentations.