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The Council of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has approved the re-appointment of Professor Chan Wai-yee, Professor of Biomedical Sciences in the School of Biomedical Sciences, as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University for a further period of three years with effect from 1 August 2021. Professor Chan will continue with his present portfolio as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Strategic Developments).

The Council has also approved the appointment of Professor Anthony T.C. Chan, Professor of Clinical Oncology in the Department of Clinical Oncology, and Professor Nicholas Rawlins, Master of Morningside College, as Pro-Vice-Chancellors of the University, each for a period of three years with effect from 1 August 2021. Professor Fok Tai-fai, Professor of Paediatrics in the Department of Paediatrics, and Professor Dennis K.P. Ng, Professor in the Department of Chemistry will retire as Pro-Vice-Chancellors of the University with effect from 1 August 2021. The University expresses its deep gratitude to Professor Fok and Professor Ng, for their long-standing service and exceptional contributions to the University in their years as Pro-Vice-Chancellors.

Professor Chan Wai-yee Re-appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor

Professor Chan Wai-yee obtained his B.Sc. (Hon. 1st Class) from CUHK in 1974 and Ph.D. from the University of Florida, USA in 1977. He served as tenured Assistant to the Associate Professor at the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Science Center from 1979 to 1989, and tenured Professor of the Department of Pediatrics and Department of Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology, Georgetown University, from 1989 to 2009. In June 2009, he became the Chair Professor and Founding Director of the School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, CUHK. Currently, he is also the Director of the Institute for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, CUHK. He was appointed Master of CW Chu College in January 2017, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Strategic Developments) of CUHK in August 2018 and Li Ka Shing Professor of Biomedical Sciences in May 2020.

His expertise is in the molecular genetics of human reproductive and endocrine disorders, developmental functional genomics and epigenomics of germinal stem cells, and non-coding RNAs in the differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Professor Chan is very active in the scientific community. He has served as a Board Member of the Hospital Authority since 2019 and as Chairman of the Hospital Governing Committee of North District Hospital since 2020. He was appointed as Director of the Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Genome Institute, Food and Health Bureau in November 2020, and as a member of the Research Grants Council in 2021. Professor Chan is a member of the Board of Directors of the Joshua Hellmann Foundation for Orphan Diseases, and a member of the Council of the Shaw Prize Foundation.

Professor Chan Wai-yee said, “I am deeply honoured and grateful to the Council in accepting my reappointment as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of CUHK. This means that I am granted the opportunity to continue taking the University to greater heights, joining hands with the President and with colleagues across the CUHK community. To maintain CUHK as one of the world’s most research-intensive universities has been the ambition I strive for.”

Professor Anthony T.C. Chan Appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor

Professor Anthony Tak Cheung Chan joined CUHK in 1993 and is currently Li Shu Fan Medical Foundation Professor of Clinical Oncology of the Faculty of Medicine, Dean of the Graduate School and Master of Wu Yee Sun College. He served as Associate Dean (External Affairs) and Chairman of the Department of Clinical Oncology at the Faculty of Medicine. Professor Chan graduated from University College London in 1988, and received postgraduate training in the Royal Marsden Hospital, UK and a M.D. from CUHK in 1998. He is a pioneer in clinical oncology, especially in the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and has published over 430 peer-reviewed papers.

Professor Chan is Director of the Hong Kong Cancer Institute, and the Sir YK Pao Centre for Cancer, Associate Director of the State Key Laboratory of Translational Oncology (CUHK), Chief Director of Phase 1 Clinical Trial Centre, CUHK, the Vice-President of the Hong Kong College of Physicians, and Honorary Professor of Peking Union Medical College Hospital. He has been invited to give over 200 lectures, including the Sir David Todd lecture (2008), the Gerald Choa Memorial Lecture (2013) of the Hong Kong College of Physicians, and this year, the Waun Ki Hong Memorial Lecture of Yonsei University College of Medicine, South Korea.

Professor Chan serves in a number of public positions. He is a member of the Panel of Assessors of The Hong Kong Medical Council and for the government’s Food and Health Bureau, a member of its Cancer Coordinating Committee and the Expert Advisory Panel in Cancer of its Health and Medical Research Fund. He was a member of Advisory Committee of the HKSAR Government Security Bureau’s Admission of Quality Migrants and Professionals (2014-2020), and member of the Education and Accreditation Committee of the Hong Kong Medical Council (2011-2020).

Professor Chan feels deeply honoured to be appointed as Pro-Vice-chancellor. He said, “The tremendous support from alumni and friends is a major driving force behind our continuous pursuit of excellence. I look forward to working with the University community to further strengthen our relationship with alumni, donors and friends.”

Professor Nicholas Rawlins Appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor

Professor Nick Rawlins became Master of Morningside College in December 2018. He completed his BA and DPhil at University College, Oxford. He is a behavioural neuroscientist whose research spans areas including the neural basis of memory, brain degeneration, pain and anxiety. He has published widely in these fields, winning research support from the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council, and one of his studies of schizophrenia was awarded a Pfizer Prize for Psychiatry in 1999. He served on grants committees both for the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust, and from 2004-2007 was the Wellcome Trust Neuroscience Panel Co-Chairman.

He was appointed to a series of posts at Oxford, including Associate Head of Medical Sciences Division (Education) and Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience, before becoming Watts Professor of Psychology in 2005 and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Development and External Affairs in 2010. He served on a wide range of college, faculty and central university committees at Oxford, including serving as Chairman of the Divisional Graduate Studies Committee from 2006 to 2008. On leaving Oxford in 2017, he became Vice-President (Development and International) of the Toulouse School of Economics. He is Emeritus Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of Oxford where he also holds Emeritus Fellowships at University College and Wolfson College. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Professor Rawlins is an experienced senior university leader with an excellent track record in leadership, education, policy, strategy and planning, and administration. He said, “It is an honour to become part of the management team at CUHK. It is a university that has come a very long way in a relatively short time, whose distinctive strengths provide an ideal foundation to take it further still. I very much look forward to working with the CUHK community at all levels to ensure that, between us all, we deliver that potential.”