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Prof. Jean Woo, Professor of Medicine and Head, Division of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), delivered her inaugural lecture as Henry G Leong Professor of Gerontology and Geriatrics today (11 November) on ‘On the Fringe of Society’. 

Professor Woo graduated from Cambridge University in 1974. After medical posts at Charing Cross, Hammersmith, and Brompton Hospitals, she worked in part time posts in general practice as well as research at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). She joined the Department of Medicine at CUHK in 1985 as Lecturer responsible for the development of teaching and service in Geriatric Medicine, becoming Head of the Department in 1993 and served until 1999, Chief of Service of the Medicine and Geriatric Unit at Shatin Hospital from 1993, and Chair Professor of Medicine in 1994. From 2000 to 2006 she was Head of the Department of Community and Family Medicine, and from 2001 to 2005 Director of the newly established School of Public Health. Currently she heads the Division of Geriatric Medicine of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, is Chief of Service (General) of the Medicine and Geriatric Unit at Shatin Hospital, and an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at HKU. Her research interests include chronic diseases affecting elderly people, health services research, nutrition epidemiology, quality of life issues at the end of life, with over 550 articles in peer-reviewed indexed journals. 

In 2007, there were 900,000 people aged 65 and above in Hong Kong, a doubling of the number compared with two decades ago. By 2030 it is projected that one in four people will be aged 65 years or over. Yet chronological age is not as important as ‘functional’ age: that is, whether one can retain physical and cognitive functions and avoid chronic diseases. There exists a rapidly increasing number of frail older people who are relegated to the fringe of society at all levels, from policy to service provision to research. They remain invisible to mainstream debates on these issues. 

At her inaugural lecture, Professor Woo described an integrated framework for research opportunities into ageing well, covering personal and environmental contributory factors; ageing well outcomes at the population, individual and biological levels; and innovation of service development and evaluation. She covered some of her research activities in the area of nutritional strategies for successful ageing, the impact of the living environment on health outcomes, and the use of a positive ageing index and frailty index as population indicators of ageing well. Other major issues discussed included the development and need for a health and social care system oriented to complex needs that integrates health and social components with an emphasis on empowerment, quality end of life care, and long term care in the residential care setting. 

About Henry G Leong Gerontology and Geriatrics Endowed Professorship

Mr. Edwin S H Leong, Chairman, Tai Hung Fai Enterprise Co. and Group of Companies, established the Henry G Leong Gerontology and Geriatrics Endowed Professorship in March 2011 in support of academic research on gerontology and geriatrics and in memory of his father, the late Mr. Henry G Leong. The first incumbent of Henry G Leong Professor of Gerontology and Geriatrics is Prof. Jean Woo, from the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics. The University is grateful for the generosity of Mr. Edwin Leong and through his philanthropy, the University will be able to make further advances in teaching and research and also foster academic development.

Mr. Leong has strong commitment to social issues faced by the Hong Kong society, especially in issues related to elderly caring. This can be best seen in his active support for elderly services in the community. In the past few years, Mr. Leong gave generously to local institutions of tertiary education which enabled the teaching and research on elderly services to be further explored.  For example:  he has supported the universities in Hong Kong for (1) the creation of a training programme for elderly care workers, (2) the provision of free health screening and monitoring services, (3) setting up professorships for academic research on related aspects, as well as (4) setting up academic scholarships for students in Hong Kong and mainland China.

For more photos, please visit:
https://www.cpr.cuhk.edu.hk/en/events_recap_detail.php?id=33&s=