許樹昌教授是傑出的呼吸系統科專家，於嚴重急性呼吸道感染的領域更是國際首屈一指。他現任香港中文大學何鴻燊呼吸系統科講座教授，身兼內科及藥物治療學系系主任，同時擔任威爾斯親王醫院榮譽顧問醫生。
許教授1985年於澳洲新南威爾斯大學修畢醫學士學位，隨即到悉尼接受呼吸系統科及睡眠疾病的專科訓練，學成後歸港從醫。
2003年，嚴重急性呼吸系統綜合症（沙士）肆虐期間，許教授堅守威爾斯親王醫院前線，於治療方案、病毒研究和病人臨床管理方面皆參與良多。2004年，甲型H5N1禽流感爆發，世界衞生組織（世衞）邀請許教授擔任顧問，爾後他繼續多次就不同嚴重呼吸道傳染病的臨床管理獻策，幫助世衞制定治療指引和相關人員培訓。2020至2023年新冠疫情間，他擔任香港特區政府的抗疫專家顧問。
許教授自2019年起出任香港衞生防護中心轄下的新發現及動物傳染病科學委員會主席，專責應付可由動物宿主傳播給人類的疾病。
許教授著作等身，曾發表逾450篇經同行評議的期刊文章。2021及2022年，他兩度獲科睿唯安選為「最廣獲徵引研究人員」，代表其著作位列全球被引用文章排名首1%。
Citation delivered by Professor Chak-sing Lau, Dean of Medicine
Professor David Hui Shu Cheong is a distinguished professor of respiratory medicine and a world-renowned expert on respiratory infectious diseases. David is the Stanley Ho Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He is also an Honorary Consultant Physician at the Prince of Wales Hospital.
David graduated from the University of New South Wales, Australia in 1985, then continued with his specialty training in respiratory medicine and sleep medicine in Sydney before returning to Hong Kong.
As a respiratory physician, David was heavily involved in the clinical management of patients with SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, at the Prince of Wales Hospital during the first major outbreak of coronavirus infection in Hong Kong in 2003. Like all SARS heroes, David demonstrated exemplary courage and selflessness, as so little was known of SARS then, and fear was not a strong enough word to describe the inner emotions of healthcare workers who looked after patients affected by this mysterious illness.
David started his association with the WHO in 2004 when he served as an advisor to the Organization to review the clinical management of influenza A(H5N1) during the early human outbreak in Vietnam. In 2013 and 2015, David joined urgent WHO missions for investigation of outbreaks of MERS, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, in Riyadh and South Korea, respectively. He has contributed to a number of WHO treatment guidelines – including the clinical management of the influenza A (H5N1) virus in 2007, the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in 2009, and MERS – as well as to the WHO training workshop in the clinical management of influenza A(H7N9) and COVID-19.
David served as an advisor to the HKSAR government on COVID-19 from 2020 to 2023 and has been the Chairman of the Scientific Committee on Emerging & Zoonotic Diseases under the Center for Health Protection since 2019.
David considers himself a late starter in academia, having only joined the CUHK Department of Medicine and Therapeutics in 1998 at the “ripe old age” of 37. He is indebted to Professor Jean Woo and Professor Joseph Sung who encouraged him to increase the breadth and depth of his research interests, and enabled his career to soar.
To date, he has published over 450 peer-reviewed journal articles, and was in the world’s top 1% of highly cited researchers (cross fields) by Clarivate, with an H index of 83 (Web of Science), among the world's top 2% of scientists since 2021, and ranked second and third in 2021 and 2022 in respiratory medicine by Stanford University and Mendeley Data respectively.
Not a bad set of figures for a late bloomer!
To David, the greatest challenges facing humanity are also where he sees the greatest hope for humanity. Climate change is real, and global warming is a serious threat causing more severe cyclones, flooding and vector-borne (mosquito-related) diseases. But he has faith that the global community can come together to address these challenges that impact us all.
David has had a longstanding “peripheral” relationship with HKU. During his secondary school years at St Paul’s College, he was a neighbour across the street, and over the subsequent years, he has worked with many HKU colleagues – some of whom are on this stage too – in WHO missions and collaborative research projects.
Mr Pro-Chancellor, I feel it is time to finally welcome Professor Hui into the warm embrace of the HKU family. It is therefore my great pleasure to present Professor David Hui Shu Cheong for the Honorary University Fellowship, in recognition of his contributions to Hong Kong and academia.
