Convenors - Bio
Prof. William Wong
Medical Convenor, Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Collaboratory
Clinical Professor & Chairperson, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, School of Clinical Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU
Graduated from University of Edinburgh in 1993, Prof. William Wong completed the General Practice Vocational Training at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital, London in 1998 and has extensive academic and clinical experience from the UK, Australia, Hong Kong and China. He is the Founding Member of Faculty of Travel Medicine, RCPS (UK) and conferred Honorary Membership from the Faculty of Public Health (UK) in 2015. He is appointed on WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee on HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections (STAC-HHS 2021-24) and has been temporary advisor for WHO West Pacific Office on a number of HIV/ sexual health guidelines. He found WONCA Health Equity Special Interest Group in 2014. He served as the Chief of Service for Department of Family Medicine at the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital, China (2018-21) and the Co-Director of Guangdong Provincial Train-the-Trainer Centre for GPs. He is the Vice Chair of the Third General Practice Committee of Shenzhen Medical Association and on the Executive Committee of Cross Strait Medical Exchange Association; and, General Practice Branch of China Association for Promotion of International Exchange of Medical Care China.
Prof. David Bishai
Public Health Convenor, Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Collaboratory
Director and Clinical Professor, School of Public Health, HKU
Professor David Bishai is Clinical Professor in Public Health and Director of the School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining HKU, Professor Bishai had served as Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for 27 years and served in the Maryland Department of Health as a local health officer in 2021.
A leading health economist, his research focuses on the performance and financing of global public health activities, primary healthcare, vaccines, and health disparities. He is the author of two books and more than 260 peer-reviewed scientific publications, His award-winning courses on systems thinking and health economics have reached over forty-thousand students. As President of the International Health Economics Association, he helped to establish a global mentoring network for early career researchers.
Professor Bishai maintains certification by both the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Pediatrics. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard in Philosophy and Physics, his Masters in Public Health from the University of California at Los Angeles, his Medical Doctorate from the University of California at San Diego, and his Doctor of Philosophy from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Prof. Sophia Chan
Policy Convenor, Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Collaboratory
Senior Advisor, President’s Office, HKU
Professor and Director, HKU Primary Health Care Academy
Professor Sophia Chan is currently Senior Advisor to the President’s Officeat The University of Hong Kong, Professor and Director of HKU Primary Health Care Academy and Policy Convenor of the HKUMed Primary Health Care Collaboratory. She was appointed by the HKSAR Government to be the Secretary for Food and Health (SFH) from 2017 – 2022. During her tenure as the SFH, not only has she been fighting the COVID-19 pandemic over 2.5 years, she had also made exemplary efforts and policy initiatives in protecting and promoting the health of the population through major policy initiatives such as embarking on a new journey in primary health care by developing District Health Centres (DHCs) in all 18 districts in Hong Kong.Professor Chan is one of the leading Nurse Scientists locally and internationally and was named among the world’s top 2% most cited scientists in her specialty areas by Stanford University in 2020. She has always been the top-funded researcher in HKU School of Nursing and has led many external competitive grants including GRF, HMRF, and commissioned grants from the Government, Hong Kong Jockey Club and key foundations and organisations locally and internationally. She is a pioneer and founding directors of a number of signature research and training programmes in tobacco dependency therapeutic interventions, and her findings has transformed smoking cessation services and tobacco control policies.
Prof. Julie Chen
Education Co-convenor, Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Collaboratory
Director, Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit (School of Clinical Medicine)
Assistant Dean (Student Wellness & Engagement)
Chief, Undergraduate Education, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, School of Clinical Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU
Prof. Julie Chen graduated with a Bachelor of Science (cum laude) degree in chemistry. She earned her Doctor of Medicine at Dalhousie University and completed her residency in Family Medicine at the University of Toronto (Mount Sinai Hospital site). She was selected for membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society on the basis of her scholastic achievement, professionalism, leadership capabilities and record of service. After relocating to Hong Kong, she began on her academic path in 2005 as Honorary Assistant Prof.. She currently holds a joint appointment in the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, and the Bau Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education. She also serves as Assistant Dean (Learner Wellbeing) in the LKS Faculty of Medicine and Director of the Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit in the Clinical School of Medicine. Julie teaches medical students across all six years of the MBBS programme in her own discipline as well as in professionalism and medical humanities. Her research interests derive from her teaching and lie in curriculum development, professionalism, and doctor and student wellbeing. In recognition of her work in medical education, she was the recipient of a Faculty Teaching Medal (2012), two University Outstanding Teaching Awards (Team, 2013) (Individual, 2016) and a Teaching Innovation Award (Team, 2019) from The University of Hong Kong.
Prof. Gilberto Leung
Education Co-convenor, Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Collaboratory
Clinical Professor, Department of Surgery, School of Clinical Medicine
Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning), LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU
Prof. Gilberto K. K. Leung is a neurosurgeon, Clinical Prof., and holder of the Tsang Wing-Hing Prof. in Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He graduated from the Medical College of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, University of London, with M.B.B.S. in 1992. During postgraduate training in England, United States and Hong Kong, he was awarded the Hallett Gold Medal by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the J. Douglas Miller Medal in Neurosurgery by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He joined HKU in 2005 where he subsequently obtained his MS, PhD, and MD.
Beyond the field of medicine, he holds an Intercalated BSc in Physical Anthropology and an LLB from the University of London; and an LLM in Medical Law and Ethics with Distinction from the University of Edinburgh and its School of Law’s McLagan Prize for Best Graduate.
He is currently President of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, Co-Chairperson of its Professionalism and Ethics Committee, Associate Dean (Teaching & Learning) of his medical faculty, Co-Director of the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law at HKU, and Board Member of the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities. He is a member of the Research Council, Health Bureau, and Chairperson of the Grant Review Board (HMRF) of The Government of the HKSAR. He delivers clinical services as an Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon at Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong.
He previously served as an Elected Member of the HKU Senate, Director of Trauma Service at Queen Mary Hospital, Chairman of the Hospital Authority Central Committee on Trauma Service, Vice-President of the Hong Kong Neurosurgical Society, Deputy Chief of Service in Neurosurgery at Queen Mary Hospital, Division Chief of Neurosurgery at the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital, and Region XVI Chief (Asia-Australasia) of the Advanced Trauma Life Support Programme of the American College of Surgeons.
Prof. Emily Tse
Administrative coordination, Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Collaboratory
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care,
School of Clinical Medicine
Assistant Dean (Health System Advancement), LKS Faculty of Medicine
Dr. Emily Tse is a graduate from The University of Hong Kong. She became a specialist in Family Medicine in 2010. She was appointed the Associate Consultant in the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Healthcare, Hong Kong West Cluster, Hospital Authority in 2015. During her over 20 years of work in family medicine, she has accumulated clinical and management skills, built up interest in medical education and contributed to the training of family medicine trainees. She has been an Honorary Clinical Supervisor for Basic and Higher Training of the Vocational Training Program of The Hong Kong College of Family Physicians since 2011.
In 2018, Emily joined The Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care of HKU as a Clinical Assistant Professor with a vision of promoting family medicine as a channel to offer primary, continuous, comprehensive and whole-person care to patients. In 2/2024, Emily was appointed Assistant Dean (Health System Advancement) in the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of HKU. She was also one of the inauguration members of the HKUMed Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Collaboratory established in 1/2024. Together with Prof. William Wong, Emily was appointed, via HKUMed, as the first Medical Consultant of Kwai Tsing District Health Centre of the Health Bureau in 10/2023 and subsequently that of the Central & Western District Health Centre Express and Yau Tsim Mong District Health Centre Express in 11/2023. She has been actively involved in the strategic planning and implementation of health promotion activities at the community level since then.
Prof. Eric Wan
Health Informatics Convenor, Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Collaboratory
Assistant Professor
Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, School of Clinical Medicine and Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU
Prof. Eric Wan is jointly appointed by the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, and the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy of The University of Hong Kong. He obtained his degree of BSc in Computing Mathematics with First Class Honour from the City University of Hong Kong and MSc in Statistics with Distinction from the University of Nottingham in UK. Following the completion of his PhD in Primary Care and Medical Statistics from the University of Hong Kong, he worked as a medical statistician in the University of Oxford. He was also a Chartered Statistician (CStat) from the Royal Statistical Society, and a Professional Statistician (PStat®) from the American Statistical Association. He was also awarded the Health and Medical Research Fund Research Fellowship of the Health Bureau of Hong Kong SAR Government as a visiting scholar at the Harvard University. His achievements are recognised from funding bodies including National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong and Macau), and awards including the HKU Faculty Outstanding Research Output Award.
Prof. Wan is an experienced epidemiologist and medical statistician, and has published more than 150 articles in international journals including top-tier specialty journals such as Annals of Internal Medicine, Lancet Infectious Disease, The Lancet Healthy Longevity, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research, Diabetes Care and Hypertension. His expertise is using big data analytics in health and health service research. He has been awarded several competitive grants as principal investigator or co- principal investigator including the Health and Medical Research Fund of the Food and Health Bureau of Hong Kong SAR Government, RGC Collaborative Research Fund and Beat Drug Fund. He is a Co-principal investigator of AI and Pharmaceuticals in Non-Communicable Diseases at the Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health (D²4H). He is one of the lead researchers in the CARE Programme, a comprehensive surveillance programme to monitor known and potential adverse events of COVID-19 vaccines in Hong Kong. He is also a member of NeuroGEN (Neurological and Mental Health Global Epidemiology Network) and Institute of Cardiovascular Science and Medicine, and an affiliate member of Hong Kong College of Family Physicians.
Prof. Doris Yu
Social Healthcare Convenor, Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Collaboratory
Professor
Chair, Research, School of Nursing, HKU
Associate Director, Sau Po Centre on Aging
Prof. Yu is currently professor at the School of Nursing. Prof. Yu’s research has focused on gerontology and long-term care.
Aging well is a highly prioritized global agenda. Professor Yu’s research work focuses on developing aged care innovations to promote healthy aging in the primary and secondary care. Her research work comprises four pillars including i) territory-wide healthy aging diagnostics and promotion, ii) strength-based empowerment model for managing dementia and heart failure in older adults, iii) dyadic and digital innovation to optimize family-based aged care and iv) comprehensive impact evaluation for aged care service. Her research laboratory on aged care innovations is supported by a research team of over 40 staff and in collaboration with multi-disciplinary professionals in social work, psychology, kinesiology and computer science. Prof. Yu has awarded with over USD12M external research fundings. Her research work has published widely in high impact international referred journals in nursing, gerontology and cardiology. She has published more than 200 papers, and is listed as World’s Top 2% Most Cited Scientist by the Stanford University. She is the Editor of the Journal of Advanced Nursing and serves the Editorial Board of several renowned journals.
Professor Yu is very enthusiastic to promote evidence-based practice. She has actively engaged in promoting evidence-based aged care. She serves a number of expert advisory panels of both government and non-government sectors to support priority-setting for aged care policy and service. Professor Yu actively engages in science implementation and has developed various territory-wide evidence-based programs to increase the preparedness of rapid population aging in the educational and healthcare pursuits.