HKUMed News
Honours and Awards


Four academics of HKUMed have been labelled as among the world’s most influential by Clarivate Analytics in its list of "2020 Highly Cited Researchers”. Their works were highly cited by fellow academics and have thereby significantly impacted their respective fields.

The lauded academics are:

  • Professor Guan Yi (管軼), Daniel CK Yu Professor in Virology, Professor and Chair of Emerging Viral Diseases, School of Public Health, in the cross-field category.
  • Professor Yuen Kwok-yung (袁國勇), Henry Fok Professor in Infectious Diseases, Clinical Professor and Chair of Infectious Diseases, Department of Microbiology, in the cross-field category.
  • Professor Malik Peiris (裴偉士), Tam Wah-Ching Professor in Medical Science, Clinical Professor and Chair of Virology, School of Public Health, in the microbiology category.
  • Professor Leo Poon Lit-man (潘烈文), School of Public Health, in the microbiology category.

Professor Gabriel Leung (梁卓偉), Dean of Medicine, Helen and Francis Zimmern Professor in Population Health and Chair Professor of Public Health Medicine, was appointed Governor of the Wellcome Board in May 2021 for his outstanding scientific achievements and commitment to ensuring public access to the benefits of scientific discovery.

Dr Wendy Lam Wing-tak (藍詠德), Associate Professor of the School of Public Health and Director of Jockey Club Institute of Cancer Care (JCICC), has been appointed Vice-President of the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) from June 2021 to 2023. IPOS represents various health disciplines globally, including psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, nurses, social workers, social scientists and many more, all united together to help cancer patients, families, and loved ones affected by cancer.

Professor Paul Tam Kwong-hang (譚廣亨), Li Shu-Pui Professor in Surgery, Chair Professor of Paediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, and his team collaborated with Wuhan Union Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, and the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University on the research "Disease mechanisms and minimal invasive surgery applications for Hirschsprung's disease". They received the Second Class Award of the 2020 China Medical Science & Technology Awards for the work. The award, conferred by the Chinese Medical Association in March 2021, was the only award given for pediatric surgery among the successful awardees.

Dr Gao Bo (高波), Assistant Professor of the School of Biomedical Sciences collaborated with researchers from Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical Group and Fudan University on the research project entitled "Genetic and Mechanistic Studies of Congenital Skeletal Disorders". Dr Gao and his team received Youth Technology Award of the 2020 China Medical Science & Technology Awards.

In December 2020 two HKUMed scholars were presented with the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship 2021 and the Croucher Senior Medical Research Fellowship 2021 by the Croucher Foundation. They are Professor Huang Jiandong (黃建東), L & T Charitable Foundation Professor in Biomedical Sciences, Professor and Chair of Synthetic Biology, School of Biomedical Sciences, receiving the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship and Professor Richard Yuen Man-fung (袁孟峰), Li Shu Fan Medical Foundation Professor in Medicine, Clinical Professor and Deputy Head, Department of Medicine, receiving the Croucher Senior Medical Research Fellowship. The Croucher Senior Research Fellowship is awarded to local academics who excel in their scientific research work, while the Croucher Senior Medical Research Fellowships are conferred on outstanding scientists employed on clinical teachers' terms within medicine and dentistry. Professor Huang's current research focuses on synthetic biology and intracellular transportation. Professor Yuen's research interests include the prevention, natural history, serology, and treatment of chronic hepatitis B and C, and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Professor Benjamin Cowling (高本恩), Professor, Head of Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, was among the inaugural awardees of the Senior Research Fellow Scheme of the Research Grants Council. He was bestowed the honour in January 2021 for his research project entitled "Determining Optimal Influenza Vaccination Strategies in Hong Kong". The scheme aims to provide sustained support and relief from teaching and administrative duties to outstanding researchers at University Grants Committee (UGC) supported universities in Hong Kong.

Dr Pamela Lee Pui-wah (李珮華), Assistant Dean (Clinical Curriculum) and Clinical Associate Professor of the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine has been awarded “Rosie Yeung 90 Medal for Outstanding Young Women Scholar” 2021 in recognition of her contributions to medical research and education as an outstanding female scholar.

In January 2021, eight HKUMed research projects received funding under the One-off Collaborative Research Fund Coronavirus Disease and Novel Infectious Disease Exercise from the Research Grants Council. The projects, receiving total funding of HK$61.02m, are:

  • “Mechanism of immune control against COVID-19”, led by Professor Chen Zhiwei (陳志偉) of the Department of Microbiology and Director of AIDS Institute;
  • “A multinational big data Covid-19 Epidemiological Study on post-infection Outcomes (ACESO)”, led by Professor Ian Wong Chi-kei (黃志基), Lo Shiu Kwan Kan Po Ling Professor in Pharmacy, Head of Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy;
  • “Comparison of paediatric and adult responses to coronavirus infection - a molecular, cellular and tissue study”, led by Professor Paul Tam Kwong-hang (譚廣亨), Li Shu-Pui Professor in Surgery, Chair of Paediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery;
  • “Mechanism of inflammasome activation by SARS-CoV-2”, led by Professor Jin Dong-Yan (金冬雁), Clara and Lawrence Fok Professor in Precision Medicine, Professor of the School of Biomedical Sciences;
  • “Superspreading of COVID19: epidemiology and control”, led by Professor Benjamin Cowling (高本恩) of the School of Public Health;
  • “Role of pangolins in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in humans”, led by Dr Lam Tsan-yuk (林贊育), Assistant Professor of the School of Public Health;
  • “Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Hong Kong children and support to families during crisis”, led by Dr Patrick Ip (葉柏強), Clinical Associate Professor of the Department of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine;
  • “Replication-defective SARS-CoV-2 mutant vaccines with abnormal codon usage patterns”, led by Professor Leo Poon Lit-man (潘烈文) of the School of Public Health.

Two projects, “Mechanism of immune control against COVID-19”, led by Dr Parco Siu Ming-fai (蕭明輝), Associate Professor of the School of Public Health, and “Development and applications of a driver-dependent tumor organoid biobank for translational liver cancer research”, led by Dr Stephanie Ma Kwai-yee (馬桂宜), Associate Professor of the School of Biomedical Sciences received HK$9,470,000 and HK$4,100,000, respectively, from the Research Impact Fund by Research Grants Council in January 2021.

Dr Janice Johnston (莊臻寧), Associate Professor, Deputy Director (Education) and Head of Division of Health Economics, Policy and Management of the School of Public Health, was awarded the University Distinguished Teaching Award 2020 and the Faculty Teaching Medal 2020, in March 2021. Dr Johnston has been teaching at the School of Public Health for almost 30 years and has been an advocate and pioneer in public health education. To many she is the guiding spirit and backbone of the Master of Public Health (MPH) programme, which is the flagship programme of the School and the largest taught postgraduate programme at HKUMed. Dr Johnston has also been an engine for developing the School's new undergraduate programme, the Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Global Health and Development. These awards are a recognition of her dedication, her tireless efforts to make learning enjoyable and inspirational, and the impact she has had on her students and the field of public health.

  • Dr Edmond Choi Pui-hang (蔡沛恒), Assistant Professor of the School of Nursing, was awarded the HKU Early Career Teaching Award.
  • Dr Anderson Tsang Chun-On (曾震安), Clinical Assistant Professor of the Department of Surgery was awarded HKU Teaching Innovation Award for his work: From Bed-side to Web-side: transforming teaching with telemedicine.
  • Dr John Fung Tai-chun (馮泰俊) , Lecturer of the School of Nursing and his team members: Dr Veronica Lam Suk–fun (林淑芬), Senior Lecturer, Ms Michelle Pang Tsz-ha (彭紫霞) , Lecturer and Dr Janet Wong Yuen-ha (黃婉霞), Associate Professor, were awarded HKU Teaching Innovation Award for their work: Evaluation on Students' Clinical Competence after a Virtual Simulation Education Programme during COVID-19 Pandemic.

Dr Edmond Choi Pui-hang (蔡沛恒), Assistant Professor of the School of Nursing; Dr Janice Mary Johnston (莊臻寧), Associate Professor, Deputy Director (Education) and Division Head, Division of Health Economics, Policy and Management of the School of Public Health; Ms Eliza YT Tam (譚宛婷), Lecturer of the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy; and Dr Anderson Tsang Chun-on (曾震安), Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, were awarded the Faculty Teaching Awards (Faculty Teaching Medal).

Dr Luo Shan (駱珊), Post-doctoral Fellow, Dr Ryan Au Yeung Shiu-lun (歐陽兆倫), Assistant Professor, Dr Zhao Jie (趙潔), Assistant Professor, and Dr Catherine Mary Schooling (舒菱), Associate Professor of the School of Public Health were awarded Faculty Research Output Prize for their work: Association of genetically predicted testosterone with thromboembolism, heart failure, and myocardial infarction: mendelian randomisation study in UK Biobank.