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Strategic partnership to advance medical education and translational medicine research

30 Apr 2025

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(From left) Professor Manson Fok, Co-Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the New Medical School cum Founding Member of the Frontier Translational Medical Research Institute at HKBU; Professor Alex Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU; Mr Yang Qiuhua, Vice President of SIIC cum Chairman and Executive Director of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group; and Mr Shen Bo, Executive Director and President of SPH, attend the press conference announcing the strategic partnership.

 

A new strategic partnership led by HKBU and Shanghai Industrial Investment (Holdings) Co Ltd. (SIIC), an international enterprise that serves national strategies and focuses on the life health and environmental health industries, aims to leverage their respective strengths to advance the proposed establishment of Hong Kong’s third medical school.

Announced on 29 April, the partnership will seek to accelerate the development of medical education, innovative research, and technology translation in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area (GBA). SIIC and its subsidiary Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co Ltd (SPH) will also actively participate in the University’s newly established Frontier Translational Medical Research Institute.

Joint partnership to support the proposed medical school establishment

Recent years have seen increasing demands in society for medical practitioners and quality healthcare services. A new medical school in Hong Kong will promote diversified medical education while driving the city’s development into an international medical training, research and innovation hub. With a strong foundation in biomedical sciences and Chinese medicine, HKBU has submitted a proposal to the HKSAR Government to set up the third medical school. The University’s initiative is backed by an extensive network of local and GBA hospitals, medical professionals, and international organisations.

SIIC ranks among the top in China’s biopharmaceutical field and is actively creating a bio-pharmaceutical innovation ecosystem characterised by collaboration among industry, academia, research, healthcare, capital markets, and insurance.

At the announcement of the partnership, Professor Alex Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU, said, “We are honoured to have established this strategic partnership with SIIC. Our collaboration will focus on several core areas, including supporting the establishment of the new medical school, promoting research and innovation, integrating healthcare in the GBA, building a collaborative platform, and exploring other areas of mutual interest, and thereby collectively advancing the development of frontier translational medical research.”

Mr Yang Qiuhua, Vice President of SIIC cum Chairman and Executive Director of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group, said, “SIIC and SPH are delighted to collaborate with HKBU. We actively empower the biopharmaceutical industry’s advancement and breakthrough through research and development. We believe that this partnership will invigorate medical education, heritage and internationalisation of traditional Chinese medicine in Hong Kong and the GBA, and will foster closer ties in the traceability and innovations of Chinese medicine among Hong Kong, the GBA, and the Yangtze River Delta, aiding the development of our national healthcare.”

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Guests attending the press conference: (From left) Professor Michael Ng, Dean of the Faculty of Science at HKBU; Professor Terence Lau, Interim Chief Innovation Officer of HKBU; Professor Johnson Lau, Senior Advisor and Member of the Preparatory Committee of the New Medical School cum Founding Member of the Frontier Translational Medical Research Institute at HKBU; Professor Lee Sum-ping, Co-Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the New Medical School at HKBU; Professor Manson Fok, Co-Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the New Medical School cum Founding Member of the Frontier Translational Medical Research Institute at HKBU; Professor Alex Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU; Mr Yang Qiuhua, Vice President of SIIC cum Chairman and Executive Director of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group; Mr Shen Bo, Executive Director and President of SPH; Ms Zhang Lan, Chief Representative of SPH; Dr Xu Qing, Deputy General Manager, Office of the Board of Directors of SIIC; Mr Wei Mingyang, General Manager of the Strategy Development Department and General Manager of the Business Development Department of SPH; Mr Liu Li, Deputy Director of the Central Research Institute and Director of the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine of SPH; Professor Zhang Nu, Vice President of The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University (attends online).

 

Accelerating medical research and applications

The Frontier Translational Medical Research Institute (Research Institute) is a recent initiative of HKBU to advance cutting-edge research and development in medical science and healthcare. At the event, the development pipeline of the Research Institute was introduced by Professor Johnson Lau, Senior Advisor and Member of the Preparatory Committee of the New Medical School cum Founding Member of the Research Institute.

Among the projects under the Research Institute, the rapid diagnostic technology developed by Professor Terence Lau, Interim Chief Innovation Officer of HKBU, has been supplied to hospitals for usage. The development of a highly absorbed oral formulation of berberine is another project with good progress.

The Research Institute will focus on medical devices, diagnostics, vaccines, integrative medicine, Chinese medicine, other biomedical sciences, and the translation of these technologies. It aims to propel medical discoveries, innovative medical applications and their advancement to commercialisation and industrialisation.