e-Bulletin January 2024
Our School is celebrating our 20th anniversary throughout 2024. We stand on the shoulders of 20th century public health giants who helped Hong Kong address its health issues. The HKU Department of Community Medicine that preceded our school enabled scholarship and solutions for Hong Kong’s tobacco epidemic, occupational health, and infectious diseases. The long life-expectancy of our citizens is not an accident, it owes to deliberate choices and policies. We teach and research those choices and we lead.
At age 20 we are young, but our School has weathered public health challenges far beyond its years. The gratitude we feel for those who preceded us commits us to being good stewards of the field of public health in our community, in Asia, and around the world. Years from now, there will be more anniversaries and we want to earn the gratitude for those who inherit the world we are creating.
Professor David Bishai
Director and Clinical Professor
School of Public Health, HKU
HIGHLIGHTS |
Public Health Forum 2024
Learn from Previous Public Health Challenges and Explore Solutions for Present and Future
The School of Public Health (SPH) hosted the Public Health Forum 2024 entitled “Past, Present, and Future of Public Health” on January 27, 2024, as the highlight of SPH’s 20th anniversary celebrations. The Forum aimed to review important lessons learned from previous public health challenges, such as infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, and primary healthcare, and explore how these lessons can guide solutions to current and future public health concerns.
Six distinguished scholars were invited to share their insights and inspirations on these emerging and prevailing health issues. The Forum brought together more than 150 participants from various institutions, government agencies, and professional colleges. The event also featured a student poster session, where 44 posters were displayed, showcasing the research and findings of our next-generation public health professionals.
The Forum provided an opportunity for scholars and participants to engage in productive knowledge exchange on addressing complex health issues with innovative solutions.
An Award Presentation was conducted during the Closing Ceremony with details as follows:
Mascot Nicknaming Competition
Chinese Nickname
Winning Entry: 為為
Winner: Ms Deon Chan, former SPH colleague
English Nickname
Winning Entry: Vitalis
Winner: Ms Chow Yim Sau, MPH student
Best Student Poster Award
Winner: Ms Dorothy Bingging Guo
Poster Title: Understanding China’s Shifting Priorities and Priority-setting Processes in Development Assistance for Health
RECOGNITION |
Dr Joni Zhang Won an Accolade in the Teaching Excellence Awards 2023
Dedication to Nurturing Students Paid-off
The University of Hong Kong announced the recipients of the University’s 2023 Teaching Excellence Awards to commend teachers’ dedication to student learning.
Dr Joni Zhang, Assistant Lecturer, Division of Kinesiology of the School won the Early Career Teaching Award. The recognition acknowledges Dr Zhang’s exceptional commitment to teaching and invaluable contributions to student learning.
“I am very happy and humbled to receive this award. Without the unwavering encouragement, guidance, and inspiration from my colleagues, this achievement would not have been possible. This award motivates me to continue working on improving students’ learning experiences,” Dr Zhang said.
Dr Zhang’s teaching philosophy revolves around the principle of “practice what you preach”, emphasising the importance of incorporating physical activity into the lives of students and their loved ones. Her dedication and innovative teaching methods have been acknowledged and appreciated by her students and colleagues, making this award a true reflection of her exceptional efforts.
The School extends our hearty congratulations to Dr Zhang on her achievement.
KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE |
School Members Collaborate with HKU Business School
Share Insight of the Impact of Aging on Hong Kong’s Future Health Spending
On January 10, 2024, Professor David Bishai, Director and Clinical Professor of SPH spoke at a press conference hosted by HKU Business School, where the “Hong Kong Economic Policy Green Paper 2024”: Outlining Strategies in Eight Key Areas to Accelerate Hong Kong’s Economic Growth ” was unveiled. Professor Bishai together with Professors Karen Grepin and Jianchao Quan, and PhD Student Ms Xiyin Chen of the Division of Health Economics, Policy, and Management contributed to the Green Paper by providing insights on the impact of aging on Hong Kong’s future health spending.
Hong Kong Economic Policy Green Paper 2024 is produced by distinguished scholars of the HKU Business School. Other participants in the press conference included Professor Richard Wong, Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of HKU, Chair of Economics & Philip Wong Kennedy Wong Professor in Political Economy, and Director of Hong Kong Institute of Economics and Business Strategy; Professor Hongbin Cai, Dean and Chair of Economics of the HKU Business School; Professor Heiwai Tang, Associate Dean (External Relations) & Victor and William Fung Professor in Economics of HKU Business School and Associate Director of Hong Kong Institute of Economics and Business Strategy; and Professor Douglas Arner, Kerry Holdings Professor in Law, HKU, RGC Senior Fellow in Digital Finance and Sustainable Development, and Associate Director, HKU-Standard Chartered FinTech Academy.
The School was pleased to work with HKU Business School to conduct cross-faculty collaboration and highlight how Hong Kong’s aging population would drive increases in health care spending that outpace the growth of the economy. Professor Bishai emphasised the importance of renewed deliberation to promote healthy and prosperous communities that can promote cost-saving lifestyle changes.
To learn more about the Hong Kong Economic Policy Green Paper 2024, please visit here.
Professor Jiandong Zhou, Assistant Professor, is jointly appointed by the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care (host department), the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, and the School of Public Health in January 2024.
Professor Zhou got his PhD in Data Science from the City University of Hong Kong in 2021, and received his post-doctoral training as Medical Statistician at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK. Prior to joining HKU, Professor Zhou was Assistant Professor at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, UK.
Professor Zhou’s research focuses on big data analytics, medical statistics, primary care and preventive health, case-control and cohort studies, predictive and decision analytics, pharmacoepidemiology and aetiology of chronic diseases (including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, etc. for family medicine patients). He is also interested in casual treatment effects analysis (double machine learning), social epidemiology and adverse online events identification with text mining, high-dimension data representation and latent cluster pattern learning in large-scale health datasets. Recently, he has been conducting machine learning analytics for illness trajectories and palliative care, especially on progression pattern analysis/visualization, end-stage risk assessment following chronic diseases, and non-invasive cancer screening.
The School warmly welcomes Professor Zhou to the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and looks forward to working with Professor Zhou to strengthen our research and teaching deliverables.
EVENT SNIPPETS |
SPH Members in Action
From Lecture Theatre to Ice-skating Rink
GHD Post-Placement Presentation
On January 19, 2024, the BASc(GHD) Programme held the Post-Placement Presentation to celebrate the accomplishments of our final-year students. The event began with a warm welcome by the Placement Coordinator, Dr Andrew Park, followed by inspiring speeches from Professor PH Chung, BASc(GHD) Programme Director; Professor David Bishai, SPH Director; and Professor Vivian Lin, Executive Associate Dean, HKUMed. This special occasion brought together not only our GHD students from all cohorts, but also esteemed teachers, alumni, family, and friends.
During the event, the students shared their experiences from their six-month field placements, which took place in various international organisations such as UNICEF in New York, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Geneva, the China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Beijing and Shanghai, and the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) in Jakarta and São Tomé and Principe, among others.
Students reflected on their placement deliverables, cultural immersion overseas, and the resilience they demonstrated when facing challenges and tough situations. The event concluded with a prize presentation ceremony that recognised outstanding achievements in four categories: Outstanding Reflective Journal, Outstanding Public Placement Update, Outstanding Placement Presentation, and Outstanding Personal Achievement.
As one of the celebratory events of the School’s 20th anniversary, the Professional Development (PD) Hub of the School hosted a Master of Public Health Alumni Sharing session titled “Practising public health: from Hong Kong to New Zealand” by Dr June Leung, Public Health Physician and Researcher, on January 19, 2024.
In the session, Dr June Leung (MBBS 2008, MPH 2012, MD 2017) reflected on her career journey practising public health in Hong Kong and Aotearoa, New Zealand. She shared her learning about how colonisation and racism undermine health equity, and how the commercial determinants of health reinforce inequities, illustrated through the experiences of alcohol and tobacco control in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Prepared to save lives with AED
The School of Public Health installed an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) in the lobby of Patrick Manson Building in late 2023. On December 18, 2023, around 30 staff members attended a training session led by Dr Zohar Lederman, a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit in the School of Clinical Medicine at HKU. During the session, Dr Lederman provided a live demonstration on how to use the AED, and participants had the opportunity to practice hands-on techniques.
To learn how to use AED, please visit here.
On December 16, 2023, a group of Master of Public Health, MPhil and RPgs students with Professor David Bishai and Dr Annie Bishai spent a fun day together on the ice-skating rink, to celebrate the holidays and enhance bonding.
