The Medical Faculty was formerly the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese founded in 1887. It later became the first faculty established in The University of Hong Kong founded in 1911. Apart from training doctors and nurses, the Faculty has always been at the forefront of medical research and development of new clinical services for the benefit of mankind.

The Faculty has 16 teaching departments, the School of Nursing, School of Public Health and School of Chinese Medicine, with more than 240 full-time teaching staff members, 600 research staff and 670 research postgraduate students. Academic staff in the Faculty undertake a wide spectrum of research, ranging from studies in frontier basic medical science to cutting-edge clinical research. With a view to promoting multidisciplinary research, five research centres have been established in order to bring together researchers in diverse fields under common interest topics and provide for collaborative academic pursuits:

• Cancer
• Heart, Brain, Hormone and Healthy Ageing
• Infection and Immunology
• Public Health
• Reproduction, Growth and Development

In addition, researchers in the Faculty are highly involved in the Genomics and Biomedical Engineering Strategic Research Themes of the Faculty.

With a strong research base, the Faculty has made tremendous contributions to the study and treatment of various diseases. The results of the research work of Faculty members are published in distinguished international journals. The Faculty has 139 highly cited papers which are among the top 1% in the world according to ISI Essential Science Indicators. Some of the Faculty’s recent research breakthroughs (2003-2009) include:

• First in the world to discover SARS coronavirus in 2003
  
  
• First discovery of H5N1 virus outbreak in migratory waterfowl by researchers at the Joint Influenza Research Centre of Shantou University and HKU
  
  
• First domino liver transplantation in Hong Kong
  
  
• First livebirths following Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) for alpha thalassemia in Hong Kong
  
  
• Research on degenerative spine disease and recent breakthrough in the world's first intervertebral disc transplantation
  
  
• Discovery of the mechanism of kidney stone formation in humans by Melamine
  
  
• World's first discovery of second-hand smoke increasing stroke deaths by 50% in non-smokers
  
  
• World's first discovery of laribacter hongkongensis – a novel bacterium which causes gastroenteritis and is associated with the consumption of fresh water fish
  
  
• Discovery of an inherited gene mutation associated with goiter and thyroid cancer
  
  
• Discovery of the fact that influenza viruses take years to emerge from animals to spark influenza pandemics in humans
  
  
• Discovery of vaccinia virus-based multivalent H5N1 Avian Influenza Vaccines
  
  
• Study revealed Lupeol in fruits helps combat head and neck cancer
  
  
• Unveiling disease mechanism of premature aging
  
  
• Discovery of a new deafness and balance gene
  
  
• Discovery of the use of Chinese herbal medicine 'gouqizi' to alleviate symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease
  
  
• Protective role of homozygous L-SIGN in the mechanism for susceptibility to SARS Coronavirus infection unraveled
  
  
• Mechanism for retroviral oncogenesis unraveled, revealing new strategies for the design of anti-cancer drugs
  
  
• Discovery of a new mechanism in the causation of hereditary colon cancer
  
  
• Identification of HOXB5 Gene as a Hirschsprung's Disease gene
  
  
• Introduction of a new prognostic score system for advanced primary liver cancer to enhance clinical trials on novel drug therapies