Montara Hospitality Group Names Functional Medicine Pioneer Dr. Stephen Barrie to Tri Vananda Executive Board
The world-renowned medical expert joins highly anticipated health and wellness community in Phuket Montara Hospitality Group, the Bangkok-based developer behind the award-winning luxury resort destination Trisara and Michelin-starred PRU, is developing Tri Vananda, a comprehensive health and wellness residential community in Phuket, Thailand, to be completed in 2023. Montara is investing over THB 6,600 million (USD 220 million) in Tri Vananda, envisioned to become Asia’s largest and most comprehensive wellness residential community.
Dr. Stephen Barrie, founder of the world’s largest functional medicine clinical reference laboratory for physicians, will join Montara Hospitality’s executive board to help develop a holistic suite of world-class integrative health and wellbeing programs for Tri Vananda. Montara Hospitality had also tapped spa and wellness industry authority Susan Harmsworth, who sits on the Advisory Board of the Global Wellness Summit and the Global Wellness Institute. Lending their expertise to the designs of the residential community and resort are three celebrated Thai firms: Habita Architects, P49 Deesign, and Arsomsilp Community and Environmental Architect. Furthermore, the interior design of the Community House scheduled to launch in July 2021 has been completed by globally renowned hospitality design firm AvroKO.
Dr. Barrie brings a wealth of expertise in the area of functional medicine to Montara. He is an internationally recognized physician, clinical medical researcher, lecturer, inventor, author and entrepreneur. For the past three years he has served as an executive at Viome – an artificial intelligence healthcare company developing diagnostics and therapeutics for chronic disease, based on the body’s expression of mRNA.
Dr. Barrie is the founder and former CEO and Chairman of Genova Diagnostics, the world’s largest functional medicine clinical reference laboratory for physicians, which he started in 1986 to advance natural medicine and the scientific research of integrative and anti-aging medicine around the world. In addition, He was Chief Medical Officer for Peking Union Functional Medicine Centers and Clinical Laboratory in Beijing, establishing over 50 functional medicine clinics throughout China as well as the largest private clinical diagnostic laboratory in China. He has been an advisor to the Chinese Minister of Health on integrating functional medicine into the Chinese healthcare system. Dr. Barrie is also a New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestselling author of several health books, including 7-Day Detox Miracle, Energize Your Life, and numerous scientific articles which have appeared in major medical journals including The Lancet, Agents and Actions, and Medical Hypothesis.
“I am excited to contribute my experience in functional medicine and help establish Tri Vananda as a world-class community that will pave a new path to integrative wellness,” says Dr. Barrie about his role at Montara Hospitality Group.
Says Kittisak Pattamasaevi, CEO of Montara Hospitality Group, “Dr. Barrie brings tremendous expertise in functional medicine in addition to global entrepreneurial wisdom. It is truly a privilege for the group to welcome him to our proud family.”
