The year 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the Faculty of Medicine, the 20th anniversary of the Nethersole School of Nursing, and the 10th anniversary of the School of Public Health and Primary Care of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).
The Faculty Gala Dinner was held tonight (11 June) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre as the highlight of celebration activities taking place throughout the year. The Guest of Honour, The Honourable Wong Yan Lung, Secretary for Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, addressed and officiated at the dinner along with Prof. Joseph J.Y. Sung, Vice-Chancellor, and Prof. T.F. Fok, Dean of Medicine, CUHK. Over 2,200 guests comprising government officials, senior university members, benefactors, teaching staff, students and alumni, and friends of the Faculty attended the dinner to celebrate another milestone of the Faculty.
Themed ‘Salute to Alumni’, the Gala Dinner paid tribute to over 5,000 graduates of the Faculty who serve the community with their skills, passion and professional ethics.
The Faculty of Medicine admitted the first cohort of medical students in 1981 with the mission of ‘serving the community through quality education, caring practice and advancement of health science’. By introducing the bachelor degree programmes in Nursing and Pharmacy in 1991 and 1992 respectively, the Faculty expanded its education frontier to nurture nurses and pharmacists with high caliber and professional skills to serve the community. In 2001, the territory’s first and unique School of Public Health was opened to further promote public health among the general public through education, training and research in disease prevention, health maintenance and health care delivery. The School was renamed as School of Public Health and Primary Care (SPHPC) in 2009 to emphasize its commitment to community-based health care. SPHPC offers courses to all students across the university and works closely with all units in the Faculty to meet the needs of local, regional and global communities through research and clinical practice. The Bachelor of Nursing programme has been the largest UGC-funded programme of its kind with the highest admission grades since 1995. It has also been attracting the greatest number of Band A applicants among all programmes in CUHK.
The recent research achievements of the Faculty include early detection of severe diseases, innovative therapeutics and disease prevention through understanding of genetic susceptibility, winning international accolades and compliments. The Faculty will further contribute to quality education and research by increasing the annual intake of medical students increase from 160 to 220 from 2012.
In collaboration with the CUHK Convocation, the Office of Institutional Advancement and the Medical Alumni Association, the Faculty held the ‘We Care’ Walkathon cum Tree Planting Day this morning, receiving great support from alumni and friends at CUHK. Proceeds from this charity event will be used to purchase a new energy platform for the Endo-Laparoscopic Theatre in a new hospital building of the Prince of Wales Hospital, the teaching hospital of the Faculty, to benefit patients suffering from bleeding peptic ulcers and bile duct stones. Prof. Joseph J.Y. Sung; Mr. Lau Sai Yung, Chairman, CUHK Convocation; and Prof. T.F. Fok addressed and officiated at the kick-off ceremony along with Prof. Anthony Chan, Chairman, the Faculty’s 30th Anniversary Organizing Committee; Prof. Diana Lee, Director, the Nethersole School of Nursing; Prof. Sian Griffiths, Director, School of Public Health and Primary Care; Dr. Siu Wing Tai, Chairperson, the CUHK Medical Alumni Association and representatives of major sponsors of the event.
