CUHK
News Centre

The Council of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has approved the re-appointment of Prof. Fok Tai-fai as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for a further period from 1 August 2018 to 31 December 2019, and the re-appointment of Prof. Fanny M.C. Cheung as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for a further period from 1 August 2018 to 31 July 2020. Professor Fok and Professor Cheung will continue with their present portfolios as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (External Affairs and Institutional Advancement) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), respectively. In addition, the Council has approved the appointment of Prof. Chan Wai-yee, currently Director of the School of Biomedical Sciences, as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for a period of three years from 1 August 2018. Professor Chan will join the existing Pro-Vice-Chancellors/Vice-Presidents in assisting the Vice-Chancellor and President in the leadership of the University, as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Strategic Developments). 

Professor Chan will work with Professor Fok and Professor Cheung, in particular, to capitalise on the development of innovation and technology initiatives and research opportunities recently announced by the central and Hong Kong governments, and to foster relationship with strategic partners at the local, national and international levels, including industrial partners based in the Hong Kong Science Park, Lok Ma Chau Loop, the Greater Bay Area and the Belt and Road countries. He will also be responsible for coordinating collegiate matters through liaison with the College Heads/Masters to facilitate efficient communications between the University’s senior management and the Colleges. Professor Chan will also oversee the centrally managed major research facilities in the University including the Laboratory Animal Services Centre, the GMP Stem Cell Facility, the Shenzhen Research Institute and the Hong Kong Institute of Biotechnology. 

Professor Chan is honoured to accept the appointment, “I wish to express my gratitude to the Council for entrusting me with this position,” he said. “I am always proud of being a member of CUHK, a world-class comprehensive research university with a proven track record in cutting-edge researches, in the region and the world. Having accumulated experience in research and administration, I look forward to playing a part in leading Hong Kong to stand out as Asia’s international technology research cluster.” 

Prof. 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 in the USA from 1979-1989, and tenured Professor of the Department of Pediatrics and Department of Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology, Georgetown University, Washington D.C., USA from 1989 to 2009. 

He was jointly appointed to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA in 2001 and he helped found the Laboratory of Clinical Genomics. He was later appointed as Head and Principal Investigator of the Section on Developmental Genomics, NICHD. In June 2009, he became Chair Professor of Biomedical Sciences and 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 also serves as Director of several joint laboratories including the CUHK-Shandong University Joint Laboratory on Reproductive Genetics, the CUHK-Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health Joint Research Laboratory on Stem Cell and Regeneration, the CUHK-CAS Kunming Institute of Zoology Joint Laboratory of Bioresources and Molecular Research in Common Diseases, and the Ministry of Education (MOE) Key Laboratory (CUHK-Jinan University) on Regenerative Medicine. He has served as Master of CW Chu College since January 2017. 

He has been listed in a number of Who’s Who books including American Men and Women of Science (1982), Who’s Who in the World (1984), and the International Who’s Who in Medicine (1986). He was a recipient of the 1988 Merrick Award for Outstanding Biomedical Research from the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and the 2008 Presidential Award from the Association of Chinese Geneticists in America. Currently he is the Executive Director of the Association of Chinese Geneticists in America, 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. 

His expertise is in the molecular genetics of human reproductive and endocrine disorders, biochemical genetics of inborn errors of trace element metabolism, functional genomics and epigenomics of germinal stem cells and reproductive tumors, and non-coding RNAs in the differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). He serves as editor/associate editor of 8 and member of the editorial board of 16 international scientific journals. He holds 7 patents, has edited 5 books, contributed 29 book chapters, and published over 200 scientific articles in international peer-reviewed scientific journals.