Dr Serena Yang Hsueh Chi grew up in Japan in a multicultural and multilingual environment. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan in 1955, and at the age of sixty-two, joined HKU in 1994 as a visiting student.
Dr Yang developed a passionate interest in the history of psychoanalysis in Japan, and has translated many articles, written several papers and a monograph on the subject, and presented her work internationally. She helped establish the Yang Hsueh Chi Staff Research Fund in 1996 and the Yang Hsueh Chi Education Fund in 2003 for research in the Department of Psychology.
Many HKU disciplines, endeavours and projects have benefitted from Dr Yang's support -from the Social Sciences to Medicine. These include student scholarships, the Oxford-HKU Psychology student exchange program, distinguished lectures, and Endowed Professorships. The Serena Yang Library and Prizes were established in honour of her contributions to the Department of Surgery. She shares the University's focus on internationalisation, and helped set up its first international student centre on campus, the Global Lounge, in 2005, and has supported the Faculty of Social Sciences' Social Exposure Program.
Currently, Dr Yang is an Honorary Senior Research Associate of the Department of Psychology. She was one of the founding members of the HKU Foundation and remains one of its Honorary Patrons.
Dr Yang is a Council Member of Caritas Hong Kong, and Honorary Governor of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, holds an Honorary Doctorate from the Open University of Hong Kong, and is an Honorary University Fellow of the University of Hong Kong.
In recognition of her contributions to academia and Hong Kong, the University has resolved to confer upon her the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa.
