‘The clinical departments and units retain their own identity in the School. They are each unique and we should respect and treasure that,’ said Professor Leung. ‘My role, and the role of the School, is to be the bridge between the departments and units on one side, and the Deanery and the Hospital Authority (HA) on the other.’ Professor Leung brings to the role a wealth of experience on all sides. He worked in the HA for 10 years before joining HKUMed in 2005 and then the Deanery in 2009. He is also the Immediate-Past President of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, where he had gained a good understanding of the various clinical specialties that also exist in the School. ‘I like to think I know roughly how things work and more importantly, how the HA and HKU academic departments and units interact, how they collaborate or occasionally fail to collaborate, and the tension and synergy between the two sides,’ he said. The departments and units retain autonomy in such areas as finance and human resources, but Professor Leung said they will benefit from being more harmonised on such things as their relationship with Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) and the HA. That relationship has ebbed and flowed over the years―for a while, the institutional demarcations were harsher than necessary―but recently, there have been moves towards stronger collaboration in areas such as research, hospitalbased teaching and public engagement. ‘This kind of cut-across collaboration would be very hard to achieve if the HA had to talk with individual departments and units separately. This is where the School comes in because we make it much easier to coordinate things,’ he said. ‘We are trying to bring in a change of mindset on all sides that focuses on our common purpose. QMH’s achievement in clinical excellence is in no small part due to the fact that HKUMed has been there. And HKUMed has been able to do world-class research and train medical professionals because of QMH. If we can work and grow together, both will become better and stronger.’ Professor Leung and his team are now establishing processes and protocols on such things as how to pay due credit and acknowledge contributions from QMH’s staff in education, training and research, and how to effectively translate HKUMed research findings into clinical service at QMH. The team is also looking at how to share resources and collaborate with other HKUMed Schools and departments, and support smaller departments within the School of Clinical Medicine. Some departments are very well-established and wellresourced―for instance, Medicine celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2023 and Surgery is celebrating its 110th anniversary this year―while younger departments and units may not have the same manpower levels and experience to actualise their missions and potentials. The coming expansion in physical space―a new clinical block at QMH and the revamped Grantham Hospital―is also on his radar and he aims to establish mechanisms with HA partners that will bode well for the future. ‘My role and the School’s role will be to coordinate and communicate and make life easier for the departments and units so they can get on with the work they are meant to do and are so very good at,’ said Professor Leung. My role and the School’s role will be to coordinate and communicate and make life easier for the departments and units so they can get on with the work they are meant to do and are so very good at. Professor Gilberto Leung Ka-kit ‘ ’ 19 HKUMed News Winter 2025
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