CU Medicine’s roadmap of translational innovation and entrepreneurship

The Faculty of Medicine of Chinese University of Hong Kong (CU Medicine) will focus on strengthening translational medicine and entrepreneurship, nurturing a new generation of clinician-scientists, and promoting research in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as part of its 2025 development plan, according to its leadership team led by Dean of Medicine, Professor Philip Chiu.

Taking a leap to entrepreneurship

The leadership team appointed Professor Siew Ng as Associate Dean (Research) and Professor Allen Chan for the new position of Associate Dean (Translation & Entrepreneurship).

“A crucial step in entrepreneurship is safeguarding intellectual property. We have introduced educational programmes, including workshops, that focus on intellectual property protection for undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, and faculty staff,” noted Chiu. “Successful commercialization can generate revenue, which can be reinvested in further research and development.”

“CU Medicine is dedicated to applying research findings in clinical practice. We emphasize translating research outcomes into commercial applications,” said Ng and Chan. Four CUHK InnoHK Centres, including Centre for Novostics, Centre for Neuromusculoskeletal Restorative Medicine, Microbiota I-Centre, and Multi-Scale Medical Robotics Centre, are entering the second phase of 5-year developmental plan. Continued application of their research discoveries will generate translational impact on local, national, and global scales.

To advance translational medicine, CU Medicine has signed memoranda of understanding with industry partners, including Cornerstone Robotics and Olympus.

“Another recent success is our novel microbiome technology, MOZAIC, which boosts the cure rate for Clostridioides difficile infection to >95 percent. It is currently available in >40 percent of public hospitals,” said Chiu.

"We aspire to establish a comprehensive innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem through tight collaboration with the government, industry partners, the Hospital Authority [HA], and the Greater Bay Area,” he added.

A new generation of clinician-scientists

2024 marks the 10^th anniversary of CU Medicine’s Global Physician-Leadership Stream (GPS) programme, the first leadership programme for medical undergraduates in Asia.

“We are delighted to welcome back several GPS graduates to CU Medicine as clinician-scientists and faculty members, while 10 graduates are currently pursuing doctoral degrees at renowned institutions such as the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge,” shared Chiu. “Through the GPS programme, we are nurturing the next generation of clinician-scientists to propel our research forward.”

CU-Med biobank

The rapid advancement of genomic research has been driven by the growing trends of precision and personalized medicine. Biobanks play a crucial role, providing essential resources for new drug discoveries and facilitating the overall drug development process.

Established in 2019 and receiving international accreditation in 2023, the CU-Med biobank stores a vast amount of genetic data and has strict management systems in place for handling diverse biological samples and multiomics analysis. This enables researchers to collaborate with the HA and transform Hong Kong into a hub for research and new drug development within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.