12 July 2025
Today has been very busy and rewarding for me. Apart from having the pleasure of speaking to you now, I spent this morning with an impressive group of teenagers. They were participating in our inaugural Hong Kong InnoHealth Cup, which we co-organised with the Hong Kong Subsidized Secondary Schools Council.
The reason I mention this is because these young people offer an inspiring glimpse into the kind of future that Jason and other health tech innovators are so excited about. The students were asked to come up with ideas that use AI and big data to address a health problem, and propose an action plan. We had 130 submissions that were whittled down to 22 teams of semi-finalists, who had great ideas for things like an AI-assisted posture monitor, a mobile app for early detection of Alzheimer's disease, and an app for managing diabetes.
The important twist, for me, is that we were not simply asking the students to brainstorm ideas. HKUMed provided all semi-finalists with a mentor to give them coaching and technical support in developing their ideas.
Why does that matter? I think that while we are all excited about the potential of AI in health technology, we must also remember that the most important factor in its success is the human factor. We need human input to realise the greatest gains from technology. Our mission here at HKUMed is to keep the human perspective front and centre.
New Leadership
Now let me tell you about some of the recent developments in our Faculty that are helping us to fulfil our mission.
In education, we want students to develop both personally and professionally. For years, our main focus was on the clinical sciences. But with the advent of new technologies and innovations, the health sciences have also come to the forefront. We have more programmes and more students, who have different needs to those in clinical studies. So this year, we did some restructuring in the Deanery to make it more fit for purpose.
The Associate Dean position in Teaching and Learning has been divided into two. One position focuses on clinical sciences – the MBBS, Nursing, Chinese medicine, and Pharmacy programmes. The other focuses on health sciences education. This includes the Bachelor of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering (BEng[BME]), which I will get to shortly, as well as our programmes on biomedical sciences, bioinformatics, and global health and development.
Whatever programme students are in, we will serve both their professional and personal needs. We have members of the Deanery specifically tasked with those responsibilities – with providing the human touch to their education and training.
Clinical Sciences Education
Across both clinical and health sciences, there are many changes afoot. In the clinical sciences, Hong Kong faces an ageing population and increasing health service needs, creating an urgent demand for more trained healthcare professionals. HKUMed is working to help fill that gap.
A major initiative this year is the introduction of the Graduate Entry Track in the MBBS, a programme for students who already have a first degree in a biomedicine discipline and are passionate about medicine. For some years now, we have admitted graduate students to the six-year MBBS, but we feel the new track will tap even deeper into this student pool. The University Grants Committee agrees. In February, it allocated us 25 Graduate Entry places. We have received applications from graduates of such prestigious universities as University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Toronto, and more.
The way this will work is that Graduate Entry students do one-year of intensive pre-clinical training, then join the six-year students for the three clinical years. It is a model that other top universities around the world have pursued successfully. I also think it offers an ‘unwritten’ benefit for the six-year students, who will be exposed to the insights of more mature classmates from diverse backgrounds.
Students in both programmes can also pursue a Master of Research in Medicine (MRes[Med]) alongside their medical studies. We started the MRes[Med] programme as one option of the Enrichment Year curriculum in 2018 and it has been hugely successful. About 120 MBBS students have enrolled and collectively, they have won more than 40 prizes, grants, and scholarships at international conferences hosted by prestigious groups like the American Heart Association, Royal Society of Medicine, and Asia Pacific Stroke Organisation. The students have made about 140 conference presentations in total and had close to 120 publications in journals like The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, Nature Genetics, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases and European Heart Journal.
HKUMed has benefited, too, because some MRes[Med] graduates have joined our faculty. Dr Matthew Hsu Shi-shin, for instance, graduated in 2022 and he is now Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Pathology. Matthew has spoken publicly about the transformative benefits he received from the MRes[Med], which he pursued during his MBBS Enrichment Year.
Mentoring is a feature of the MRes[Med] and is also important in our Distinguished MedScholar (DMS) Track. Exceptional students are paired with elite mentors, and receive intensive research training and other exclusive programmes. The first batch of DMS was admitted in September 2023. Within their first two years, they initiated meaningful community projects, such as training school students in cardiac arrest first aid and supporting a Hong Kong Red Cross blood drive. The students are now about to enter their Enrichment Year. Two of them were awarded scholarships offered by the prestigious Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia. I expect all DMS students will undoubtedly achieve great things in the future.
Outside the MBBS, our other clinical programmes have also been very busy launching new initiatives to enrich education in Hong Kong and the region.
The School of Nursing, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, has not only helped to raise the bar for nursing in Hong Kong, it is now doing so across the nation. In September, it will launch the self-funded BSc(Nursing) to train nurses for registration in Mainland China – the first programme from Hong Kong to offer this pathway. The students receive the same advanced competencies and global perspectives as our other Nursing programmes, but they will do their clinical practicums at the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital and other hospitals in the Mainland. Another exciting development is the introduction of a Mainland-oriented mode under the existing Doctor of Nursing. HKUMed's integration with the Greater Bay Area and the rest of the country will no doubt benefit from these pioneering initiatives.
BPharm has been working on an impactful project closer to home – the HKUMed Community Pharmacy. Located at 3 Sassoon Road, this venture has an important role to play in primary healthcare. Patients can get their prescriptions filled, including for medications not available through the Hospital Authority (HA), and receive advice on common and rare side effects, interactions with other medications and so forth. This is only the start. The plan is for the Community Pharmacy to ramp up its activity and become a springboard for research. So watch this space.
The BChinMed has an exciting period ahead with the opening of the first Chinese medicine hospital of Hong Kong at the end of the year. This groundbreaking facility will provide students with hands-on clinical experience, complementing their training in Mainland hospitals. The new site will also serve as an important platform for integrating Chinese and Western medicine, fostering innovative collaborations and advancing holistic patient care.
Two new taught postgraduate programmes are set to further contribute to healthcare development. The Master of Community Health Care* is designed to train healthcare professionals to become leaders in primary care in Hong Kong, nationally and globally. Meanwhile, the Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Leadership and Management* builds on the HKU Jockey Club Nursing Leadership Fellowship programme to strengthen capabilities in leading and managing patient care while driving advances and innovation in healthcare systems.
Health Sciences Education
Health Sciences education has also seen exciting developments. This year, HKUMed was appointed administrator of the new School of Biomedical Engineering, a joint venture with the Faculties of Dentistry, Engineering, and Science. While HKU has offered a BEng[BME] for years, this new School provides a robust framework and structured focus for interdisciplinary collaboration and team science. The September intake of BEng[BME] will more than double, rising from 35 to 75 students, further strengthening our leadership in biomedical education and innovation.
Indeed, the School of Biomedical Sciences is integral to our effort to support the transformation of Hong Kong into an international hub for biomedical innovation and technology. In lockstep with this direction, we have diversified the BBiomedSc programme to offer four majors – in Biomedical Research, Bioinformatics, Clinical Sciences, and Health Technology – to meet strong industry demand, which will continue to surge for the foreseeable future. The cohort size has increased, too, to about 70 students. We have strengthened industry partnerships with places such as the Hong Kong Science Park, the BGI Group and other key partners in the Mainland. These collaborations ensure that our students get as much real-world experience as possible.
Additional partnerships have also been secured for the BASc(GHD) under the School of Public Health. These students get amazing opportunities to do placements with organisations all over the world – from helping to digitise the health information system in the tiny African nation São Tomé and Príncipe, studying the prevention and control of schistosomiasis in rural Hunan, to supporting a universal healthcare project in Cambodia led by HKU, China Medical Board and the country's National Institute of Public Health. These are just a few of the impactful projects that GHD students participated in last year.
HKUMed will also launch two new postgraduate programmes to build capacity in biomedical advancement and innovation. The Master of Clinical Research Management and Product Development* will equip professionals with the skills needed to support the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory entities, focusing on clinical studies, drug development and regulatory compliance. The Master of Biomedical Innovation* will offer structured training in biomedical sciences and digital health technology, enabling graduates to translate fundamental research into cutting-edge innovations.
Technology in Education
I have talked a lot about programmes. So let me digress a little into another very important part of today's teaching and learning, which is education technology. HKUMed has a team dedicated to exploring new, effective ways to deliver content and get students engaged in their learning.
The team is led by the EdTech and SIMHSE units – acronyms that stand for Education Technology and Students in Medical and Health Sciences Education. This year they launched the Knowledge and Simulation Education System competition, where MBBS students worked in groups to interact with a virtual patient and demonstrate their clinical reasoning skills in complex scenarios. Nursing and Pharmacy have already implemented the platform in selected activities, and we are working out how to embed it in the MBBS.
The team also implemented other innovations including the publicly available GenAI Literacy video series, a separate video series where students and teachers share effective learning tips, and the digitisation of MBBS assessment across all years.
The EdTech and SIMHSE team has won multiple accolades for their work. Notably, they were awarded Bronze at the QS Reimagine Education Awards 2023 in the Power of Partnerships category. They won three awards at the Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference. And at the local Symposium on Redesigning Student Learning Experience in Higher Education, they swept the board with Champion, First Runner-up, and People's Choice awards.
Our campus development projects are also incorporating cutting-edge learning technology. Renovations of the third to sixth floors of the William MW Mong Block will provide additional telepresence-grade teaching venues and a clinical skills training centre fitted with advanced simulation, including AR and VR technologies. The work should be completed by the end of this year. The Clinical Training Amenities Centre, being developed at 6 Sassoon Road, will feature facilities and equipment for senior students, as well as accommodation and amenities for up to 700 medical and nursing students during their clinical placement shifts. It is targeted for completion in late 2029.
Building Research Capacity
One of the most important ways we can improve people's health is through our research. HKUMed has an outstanding team of researchers. More than 100 are in the top two per cent of their fields worldwide, and 32 were named to the prestigious Highly Cited Researchers 2024 list by Clarivate Analytics. My job, and that of our deanery, is to ensure that this talent can flourish.
One major new initiative is underway to create a collaborative platform for researchers, clinicians, and students from across the University. This platform is designed to develop and commercialise innovations in AI and big data for healthcare. It has received support from the University, with generous funding from Mrs May Tam and Mrs Carol Murray. As part of this effort, we are also exploring the establishment of a dedicated data commons – similar to our Tissue Bank – to provide long-term management of human research data and records.
We have introduced two new, Faculty-based funding schemes to foster innovation and collaborative research. The HKUMed Innovation Start-up Grant supports explorations in technology-driven translational research in cancer and the neurosciences. The Collaborative Research Catalyst Grant offers seed funding for inter-departmental and inter-faculty collaboration on strategic research areas.
Building capacity in research requires advanced facilities, so we are also renovating the Pauline Chan Building and Estates Building to help meet our changing needs. These buildings date to the 1980s and are being refitted with modern amenities and equipment for advanced research, such as big data analysis and deep learning. At the same time, we are enhancing the large animal facility on the 10th floor of the Laboratory Block to accommodate animals larger than mice and expand our capacity for pre-clinical translational research.
People are central to our research strategy, too. Since the relaunch of our '140 for 140' global recruitment campaign, we have successfully attracted world-renowned scholars to join our Faculty. Thanks to the generosity of the Daniel and Mayce Yu Medical Development Fund, which provides research start-up funding for our new professoriate recruits and awards for clinical academics and scientists, our members are able to build new bridges and further raise HKUMed's research profile. This year, we continue to recruit talent from around the world. In May, I travelled to the UK where I met with potential candidates and visited partner institutions to strengthen collaboration opportunities. A similar excursion is planned to Toronto and New York next month.
Another talent initiative is focused closer to home. The Dual-Track Appointment Scheme between HKUMed and the HA was introduced in March this year to give clinicians an experience of academic life. We think this will benefit both our Faculty and the HA. Clinicians who discover a deep interest in research may be inspired to join us long-term. And those who remain in the HA – which is likely to be the majority – will acquire valuable research skills. Everyone gets the chance to up their game.
Clinical Affairs
This brings me to the other core plank in our work – clinical affairs. The major focus over the past year has been to promote primary healthcare and expand our community clinics.
Primary healthcare is now a major priority for the HKSAR Government. HKUMed has been a leader and major supporter of this. Last year, we launched the Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Collaboratory to consolidate our existing resources in this field. In November, we also organised Hong Kong's first Primary Healthcare Summit for more than 800 professionals, policymakers, researchers, industry partners and other stakeholders. Our teaching programmes have been augmented with enriched content and clinical attachments in primary healthcare, while researchers are encouraged to deepen engagement across primary health-related disciplines through the Researcher Connect initiative. A Lancet Commission on Transforming Primary Health Care in the Post-COVID-19 Era was also initiated by HKUMed to promote further enquiry.
In terms of clinics, new services have been established to meet community needs and provide research and teaching opportunities. I mentioned the Community Pharmacy earlier. We also opened the Integrative Medicine Clinic, which brings together professionals from the School of Clinical Medicine and School of Chinese Medicine to offer joint consultations and advice in orthopaedics and traumatology and cancer care. The new Travellers' Clinic and Immunology & Allergy Clinic also represent a collaboration, between the Department of Medicine and the Community Pharmacy. And I am particularly keen on the new HKUMed Sports Health Clinic – not only because I enjoy sports! We have been promoting the importance of exercise for maintaining health and well-being. The clinic will help us spread that message, as well as foster cross-disciplinary collaboration on sports-related injuries and performance enhancement.
There were also new developments with our ongoing hospital partners, including the Gleneagles Clinical Trials Centre established last autumn, and the new HKU-Shenzhen Hospital Translational Medicine Research Centre. And we welcomed the launch of the Tam Wing Fan Better Care Scheme, a programme also supported by the generosity of Mrs May Tam, to help financially disadvantaged public patients at Queen Mary Hospital.
Community and Partnership Engagement
The final area I want to touch on today relates to our outreach and partnerships – how we engage with the broader community. One way is to share our knowledge. Professor Michael Ni Yuxuan and his team in the School of Public Health have done a stellar job documenting the changes in Hong Kong people's physical, mental and social well-being since 2009, which has helped government decision-making on tobacco control and other policies, District Health Centres, and resource allocation. Professor Ni's team won the Faculty and University-wide knowledge exchange awards for 2024.
Other examples of community engagement include Professor Gary Lau Kui-kai's HKU Stroke initiative, which offered free health assessments and stroke prevention information to more than 100 foreign domestic workers, and Professor Wendy Chan Wing-lok's Support+ programme to showcase the importance of family support in the cancer journey.
Reaching out can bring people in and strengthen our work. We also do this at the institutional level. In December last year, for instance, I led a delegation to Peking University Health Science Center to sign a memorandum of understanding on talent training, academic exchanges, research, internships and the like. We have a number of partners around the world who are carefully selected to accord with our standards and aspirations.
Our existing supporters were also honoured during the year. In March, we held an Evening of Gratitude for the benefactors of our 64 Endowed Professorships. We also hosted a dinner last year for alumni leaders to deepen our connections and communication.
Staying Healthy
I will end my talk today by circling back to where I started, which is the importance of people in everything we do. The nature of medicine is that we spend a lot of time tending to the needs of others. I want to ensure we also look after ourselves and build a spirit of camaraderie and care. HKUMed has organised a number of events to put 'People First'. Over the past year, these ranged from a pet day to Putonghua courses to squid fishing to staff wellness – we are trying to cater to many interests. A highlight was forming the HKUMed Marathon Team to race in the 2025 Standard Chartered Marathon. With the generous support of Dr Wilson Hui, we brought together 265 HKUMed runners and 60 others cheering us on.
Our very first HKUMed Sports and Family Fun Day was another highlight. Allow me to share two stories from that. The football match between Team Medicine and Team Surgery was a real thriller – Team Medicine clinched victory in the game's final moment, scoring with literally just seconds to spare.
Then there was the inter-departmental basketball match. Team HKUMed won again with yours truly on its team. But there is a price to pay for everything and I spent the next two weeks suffering from knee pain, unable to walk down the stairs. It had been a few years since I last played basketball and my body was unprepared. These experiences underscored two key messages we are keen to promote at HKUMed: the power of teamwork and tenacity that keeps propelling us forward; and the importance of regular exercise – and I stress the word 'regular' here – as an essential component of maintaining good health and well-being. Stay strong and stay healthy, everyone!
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