01 December 2024
It has been a happily eventful year for HKUMed, with new developments that are propelling us forward and strengthening our ability to contribute to Hong Kong's future as an innovation and technology (I&T) hub. But first, let me pick up where I left off in my State of the Faculty Address in July. It was just before the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and we were all looking with hope towards the possibility that Hong Kong athletes would win a medal. They did better than that – they won four medals, their best performance to date, making us all proud. The result gave me much inspiration and food for thought.
Sporting excellence is a combination of raw talent, cultivation and opportunity. Without good coaches, facilities and opportunities to compete, it is difficult to become internationally competitive. Similarly, in medicine and healthcare, we need breeding grounds and opportunities to complement the capabilities of our academics. This year, we have been very fortunate to receive that support in abundance. The Chief Executive's October Policy Address echoes the National 14th Five-Year Plan to expedite the development, application and commercialisation of I&T results in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area (GBA), in particular life and health technology.
Government investment in this area has accelerated over the past year. I will cover some of the highlights in a moment, but let me first say that with the road ahead now clearly mapped, there are wonderful opportunities for HKUMed to rethink our agenda and how we can contribute to the city's transformation. A key theme in this work will be translational and cross-disciplinary initiatives. Good healthcare requires more than medicine, it needs collaborations with scientists, dentists, engineers, social scientists and others to reap the full results offered by technology and the new pathways that are opening up for making an impact.
Translation and Transformation
The first area where we are rethinking things echoes back to our distinguished guest of honour, Ambassador George Hara, who has been very active in supporting the development of biotechnical innovations in his native Japan, Hong Kong and beyond. George embodies an optimism for the future that can inspire all of us, especially young people. The era of AI, data science and biomedical technologies has only just begun and there is huge promise if we embrace the opportunities there.
To advance that cause, we are working with the Faculties of Dentistry, Engineering, and Science to establish a new School of Biomedical Engineering. The School will build on the innovation achievements of all the faculties involved and drive deeper collaboration in areas where there is great potential to break new ground, such as medical instrumentation, biomaterials, and diagnostic & therapeutic devices. Our aim will be to improve health and medical treatment, from basic research through to commercialisation and techno-entrepreneurship, and ensure our discoveries are brought into the community.
This effort to build on our strengths and ramp up innovation is coinciding with major new external opportunities related to tech transfer and innovation – one of which speaks to our success in long-term planning and our commitment to excellence.
In last year's Policy Address, the Chief Executive announced that the government would establish the Greater Bay Area International Clinical Trial Institute (GBAICTI) in the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park, to co-ordinate and integrate clinical trials resources across Hong Kong's public and private sectors. This September, HKUMed welcomed the very good news that we had been appointed the operator of the Institute – a recognition of our strong track record in clinical trials, dating back more than 25 years when we established the HKU Clinical Trials Centre. Our centre has arranged more than 2,000 Phase One, Two and Three clinical trials over the years, notably VectorFlu® ONE, the novel Covid-19 nasal vaccine developed by our very own HKUMed researchers. The Centre's trials are recognised by the National Medical Products Administration of our country, the American FDA and other major regulatory bodies around the world.
With the GBAICTI, we will aim to provide a one-stop service that can facilitate clinical trials on a larger, regional scale and promote cross-border collaboration. Our plan is to organise resources around four strategic dimensions. One is about process innovation and optimisation – we want to connect, co-ordinate and synchronise clinical research resources across academic institutions and the public and private sectors (such as hospitals, regulatory authorities and funding bodies). The second dimension is about research strategy development and application. Here, we aim to tap into and share resources, such as biobanking and data generation, possibly through the One Zone, Two Parks arrangement at the Lok Ma Chau Loop.
The third is about human resources development and strategy. We plan to establish an International Clinical Research Academy that will train research and clinical professionals who can conduct and support clinical trials. Finally, the fourth dimension centres on global communications and engagement. We will set up a communication and exchange platform with government and research bodies in the GBA, establish an Asian Clinical Research Consortium, and participate in global networks and engage with industry at all levels.
There is a lot of work for us to do, but we are well-prepared for it thanks to the experience of our Clinical Trials Centre. With the GBAICTI, we are very excited by the prospect that within the next three to five years, HKUMed will make substantial contributions to the GBA's development as a regional and national hub for biomedical innovation and translation.
On top of that great news, we are looking ahead to even more opportunities for external engagement. The Hong Kong government plans to invest HK$6 billion in Life and Health Technology Research Institutes – LHTRIs – that are multidisciplinary and cross-institutional. The aims are very much in line with the School of Biomedical Engineering in wanting to bring diverse but relevant parties together to propel innovation. HKUMed has already identified local institutional partners, and we are working hard to develop a proposal to become one of the initial LHTRIs. I will keep you posted on our progress.
Teaching and Learning
While the last few months have provided some exciting opportunities for innovation and growth in research and technology transfer, we are also reviewing our education programmes to make them fit for purpose. HKUMed continues to attract some of the best performing students from Hong Kong and abroad, and we equip them to be standard-bearers in their disciplines. But we also recognise that our teaching programmes need regular review. As times continue to change, we must adapt to new demands and needs.
With that in mind, we are continuing to develop, review and refine our programmes. A new programme on the horizon is the BSc in Nursing, which will be based in Shenzhen with the local authority's approval. This course will involve teaching and training at the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital, with some lectures and activities also being carried out in our Hong Kong campus. Similar to our efforts to build a clinical trials platform that can serve the GBA, this programme aims to train healthcare professionals for the region. It takes us in a new direction but one that I am confident will be fruitful.
Our flagship MBBS is also kept under constant scrutiny. This has resulted in innovations such as the Enrichment Year and the Second Chance programme, which offers students who completed their first degree elsewhere the chance to study medicine. These students do very well with us, approaching their studies with great passion, maturity and empathy. They also help in the effort to alleviate Hong Kong's medical manpower shortage.
This year, we have been reconsidering the MBBS as a whole. As medicine and technology have advanced, students’ workload has been increasing to a point where they are often struggling to keep up. We are therefore looking at how to remove some of the duplications in the curriculum and ensure that what we teach is fit for purpose – that is, it enables students to deepen their knowledge and understanding of medical practice. Let me emphasise that this review is about maintaining our standards, which are as high as ever, in a more sustainable way. We believe there is room to lighten the workload a little and ensure students do not falter or burnout, but rather have the capacity to excel and pursue personal and social development, which, after all, will contribute to their effectiveness in treating patients.
The BBiomedSc is also being revamped to enable students to take greater charge of their learning. Majors are being introduced in the areas of biomedical research, bioinformatics, clinical sciences, and health technology. All students will still receive an excellent foundation that they can then articulate to medicine, veterinary sciences and other health-related professions if they choose. But the opportunity to go deeper will keep them in step with this rapidly transforming field and prepare them to contribute to Hong Kong's I&T development.
Strategic Partners
At the beginning of this letter, I mentioned the ingredients for excellence – talent, cultivation and opportunity. When it comes to impact, I must add a fourth: collaboration. Whether in the hospital tending patients or in the lab making new discoveries, it is impossible to advance without collaborators and partners. This can be as straightforward as doctors, nurses and other healthcare specialists working together to improve the outcome for a patient. Or as complex as whole institutions, like HKUMed, entering formal agreements with the government to manage platforms like the GBAICTI.
Just a few days ago, we hosted a symposium for members of the China Consortium of Elite Teaching Hospitals on training doctors for the fifth industrial revolution. This was well supported by our long-term and strategic partners – the China Medical Board, the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, and the Queen Mary Hospital. A HKUMed delegation will also be visiting Beijing shortly to connect with Peking University, Peking Union Medical College and Tsinghua University.
As we move forward, new collaboration opportunities are looming on the horizon. For instance, we are excited about the prospects of the proposed Northern Metropolis, which will have a Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park with space for educational institutions. HKUMed is definitely keen to be part of that project.
We are also engaging further afield. HKUMed was invited this year to join the World Health Summit Academic Alliance, a prestigious network of 30 academic institutions and groups from around the world who aim to set the agenda for a healthier future and inspire innovations for better health and well-being. HKUMed is the first institution in the GBA invited to join and in October, I attended the World Health Summit 2024 in Berlin. This event brought together not only academics, but also government officials, international organisations, philanthropists, the private sector and others to strengthen exchange, promote debate on global health and stimulate innovative solutions to health challenges. The idea is that together, we build trust, resilience and actionable global health responses to those places that need it most. This is also a great platform to expand the scope of our School of Public Health and facilitate its development.
One of the key issues of the World Health Summit is One Health, a topic I am also keen to advance both as Dean of Medicine and in my new role as HKU's Vice-President & Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Health). The One Health approach recognises that all beings share this Earth and calls on us all to optimise the health of people, animals and the planet in a sustainable way. This entails promoting understanding of the co-benefits, risks, trade-offs and opportunities. I believe such an approach to health can not only help to prevent or contain future pandemics, but also build more resilient and equitable systems, environments, economies and societies. As with innovation and technology, it is not something that can be done in silos. We must collaborate and work together.
The next period in HKUMed's development will undoubtedly be a busy one. We aim to achieve excellence through advancing our research strengths and opportunities, strengthening our partnerships, and enhancing our education programmes to ensure we produce capable and compassionate graduates. The current transformation requires effort and commitment, but I have been inspired by the positive response of our staff, students and alumni to this exceptional period. More than ever, HKUMed has tremendous opportunities to accelerate and deepen our impacts in improving people's health locally, regionally and globally, and contributing to the development of Hong Kong and the GBA into an I&T hub. I look forward to leading the Faculty into the next stage of its development and a new phase of achievement and engagement with Hong Kong and beyond.
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