HKU Bulletin May 2008 (Vol. 9 No. 2)

28 29 Professor Ronnie Poon Tung Ping Professor, Department of Surgery P rofessor Poon’s main research interest is liver cancer, which has a particularly high incidence in the Chinese population. He has performed numerous clinical studies to improve the results of surgical resection for liver cancer at Queen Mary Hospital, achieving a very low operative mortality rate and one of the best long-term survival rates in the world. He is currently serving as the global lead investigator of two international large-scale clinical trials of adjuvant therapy using novel drugs after resection and radiofrequency ablation of liver cancer, each involving more than 60 centres in Asia, North America and Europe. He is also interested in basic research on the angiogenesis of liver cancer and has demonstrated the pivotal role of vascular endothelial growth factor in this process, leading to the development of an FDA-approved drug for the treatment of liver cancer. Professor Poon believes that, in research matters, academic clinicians are at the crossroads of research and clinical practice, and can play an important role in translating research on basic mechanisms of disease into new treatments for patients. As the Chairman of the Research Committee of the Department of Surgery, he hopes to foster a new generation of young surgeon-scientists who can elucidate our understanding of diseases and develop novel treatments for the next generation of patients. poontp@hkucc.hku.hk http://www3.hku.hk/surgery/staff_view.php?id=10007 Outstanding Researcher Awards The Distinguished Research Achievement Award is the University’s highest research honour. Awards are made only once every two years, and no more than two awards may be made in each exercise. Candidates are expected to have achieved international distinction and to be at the forefront of their chosen field (ideally, among the top 1% of researchers in that field). Professor Vivian YAM Wing Wah Professor: Chair of Chemistry P rofessor Yam’s major research contributions are in the areas of inorganic and organometallic chemistry, particularly in the employment of molecular design and synthetic strategies to create novel classes of luminescent metal complexes and metal-based molecular functional materials. Her seminal works on luminescent polynuclear metal complexes and clusters and light-emitting carbon-rich organometallics have gained her international recognition. In 2001 she became the youngest member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the past three years she has been awarded a Class II State Natural Science Award for her project ‘Molecular Design and Luminescence Studies of Transition Metal Complexes with Alkynyl- and Chalcogen-Containing Ligands’, and a Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Centenary Lectureship and Medal for her innovative design and synthesis of metal-based luminescent materials and novel contributions to light-induced chemical reactions. She is also the first Chinese scientist to be honoured with the RSC Centenary Lectureship and Medal. In 2006 she also won the prestigious Japanese Eikohsha Award. Professor Yam says that research is an integral part of her life. She believes that, provided they have the passion, dedication and determination to pursue research with all their heart, scholars in Hong Kong can excel internationally and produce results of world-class quality. wwyam@hku.hk http://chem.hku.hk/~chemhome/staff/wwwyam/vwwyam.htm Distinguished Research Achievement Award