A Fireside Chat: Integrating Health Research and Policy in Hong Kong

Research X Policy 

This conversation draws in themes that relate with Hong Kong’s latest topics and current trends in public health. It brings in dialogue with leaders from LegCo, The Hospital Authority, and Academics. 

Guests and Moderator

Dr. Libby Lee 

Dr Libby Lee was Under Secretary for Health from July 2022 to July 2025, She was appointed as the Chief Executive of the Hospital Authority (HA) with effect from August 1, 2025, for a term of three years

Dr Lee joined the executive team of the HA in 2008 and was promoted to Director of Strategy and Planning in 2016. During her tenure as the Director of Strategy and Planning, she oversaw the formulation of strategies and operational plans, the co-ordination of community and primary care services, and the planning and implementation of capital works projects in relation to the HA's provision of healthcare services. Her duties at that post also included conducting studies and analyses in relation to demographic changes and challenges faced by the HA and projecting corresponding resource requirements. Dr Lee has served on various professional bodies including as Council Member for the Hong Kong College of Anaesthesiologists and the Hong Kong College of Community Medicine.

Dr Lee holds a medical degree and a master's degree in public health from the University of Hong Kong as well as a number of professional qualifications. She is trained as an anaesthesiologist and a practitioner in administrative medicine. 

Dr Hon David LAM Tzit-yuen 

Dr. David Lam is the Medical and Health representative of the Legislative Council of HKSAR. He is a surgeon by profession. Having graduated in 1991 from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he qualified as a Specialist in General Surgery in 1998. With respect to public services, he is a Member of the Hong Kong Council for Smoking and Health. He has previously served as Member of the Medical Council of Hong Kong, the Health and Medical Development Advisory Committee of the Food and Health Bureau and several Government committees related to VHIS, Private Healthcare Facilities Regulation and Medical Device. During x pandemic, he was Medical Director of the QES Vaccination Centre. 

Professor Sophia Chan 

Professor Sophia Chan is currently the Senior Advisor to President’s Office at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), and the Professor and Director to HKU Primary Health Care Academy at the University of Hong Kong.

Professor Chan was appointed by the HKSAR Government to be Under Secretary for Food and Health (USFH) from 2012 to 2017, and Secretary for Food and Health (SFH) from 2017-2022. She was the first nurse in Hong Kong appointed in this ministerial position. She has led the Food and Health Bureau (FHB) in making remarkable contribution in the formulation and implementation of various major policies on health, food and environmental hygiene and agriculture and fisheries. During her tenure as SFH, not only has she been fighting the COVID-19 pandemic over 2.5 years, she has also made exemplary efforts and policy initiatives in protecting and promoting the health of the population through major policy initiatives such as reforming a new journey in primary health care by developing District Health Centres (DHCs) in all 18 districts in Hong Kong, laying a strong foundation of developing the first Chinese Medicine Hospital, opening the first Children Hospital, launched the Hong Kong Cancer Strategy 2019, launched the Towards 2025: Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent and Control Non-communicable Diseases in Hong Kong; implemented the Hong Kong Strategy and Action Plan on Anti-Microbial Resistance 2017-2022 and prepared the 2023-2027 Strategy Plan, established the Genome Research Institute, launched the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme, and banned E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products in Hong Kong, just to name a few. 

Professor Gilberto Leung 

Professor Gilberto Leung is a neurosurgeon, Clinical Professor, and Tsang Wing-Hing Professor in Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He graduated from the Medical College of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, University of London, with M.B.B.S. in 1992. During postgraduate training, he was awarded the Hallett Gold Medal by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the J. Douglas Miller Medal in Neurosurgery by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Having worked at the Hong Kong Hospital Authority for ten years and completed his Neuroendocrine Fellowship at the University of Virginia, he joined HKU in 2005 where he obtained his MS, PhD, and MD. He practises as an Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon at Queen Mary Hospital (QMH).

He is currently Director of the School of Clinical Medicine and, after serving as Associate Dean (Teaching & Learning) for seven years, Senior Advisor to the Teaching & Learning Sub-Deanery at the LKS Faculty of Medicine. He is ImmediatePast President of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine and Co-Chairperson of its Professionalism and Ethics Committee. He is Covenor of the Institute for Medical Advancement and Clinical Excellence, a multipartite platform newly established by the Hong Kong Government, and an Executive of the Research Council of the Health Bureau. He serves as a Board Member of the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities. 

Moderator: Professor David Bishai 

Professor David Bishai is Clinical Professor in Public Health and Director of the School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining HKU, Professor Bishai had served as Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for 27 years and served in the government as a health officer for the state of Maryland in 2021.

A leading health economist, his research focuses on the performance and financing of global public health activities, primary healthcare, vaccines, and health disparities. He is the author of two books and more than 260 peer-reviewed scientific publications, and has raised USD50 million in grant support from NIH, CDC, World Bank, WHO, ADB and foundations. His award-winning courses on systems thinking and health economics have reached over forty-thousand students.

Professor Bishai maintains certification by both the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Pediatrics. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard in Philosophy and Physics, his Masters in Public Health from the University of California at Los Angeles, his Medical Doctorate from the University of California at San Diego, and his Doctor of Philosophy from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Questions about the intersection of public health and research in HK are welcome!

For details, please contact Mr Edward Ye at u3574226@connect.hku.hk