15 14 HKU ANNUAL REPORT 2023 ACCELERATING GROWTH Professor Balazs Szentes, Chair of Economics in the HKU Business School, is an expert in microeconomics and game theory who has held academic positions at the University of Chicago, University College London and the London School of Economics, where he was Professor for 13 years before coming to HKU. He is attracted both by the city of Hong Kong and the Business School. “The HKU Business School has a great group of economists. From an intellectual viewpoint, it is a very stimulating place. My first impressions have been great – my colleagues are friendly and helpful and my family has received a lot of support from the University in our transition. While I am here, I plan to contribute to building a world-class academic environment in our Faculty.” ECONOMIST BALAZS SZENTES Dr Lydia Cheung Wai Ting, Associate Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences, received a BSc and PhD from HKU before undertaking postdoctoral training in cancer genomics research in the US. She returned to her alma mater in 2016. Dr Cheung’s research, showing gene mutations in key cancer pathways that represent new molecular targets for precision cancer medicine, has attracted local, national and international recognition. In March 2023 she was awarded an Outstanding Young Researcher Award at the HKU Excellence Awards Presentation Ceremony. “I had my first research experience when I was a final-year undergraduate student at HKU. Since then, I have developed a strong passion for cancer research. My research asks fundamental questions of how gene mutations favour cancer development and how to target these mutations effectively with cancer drugs. The research findings help untangle the complexity of cancer and my team and I strive to make significant contributions to the field.” HOMEGROWN TALENT LYDIA CHEUNG WAI TING Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart was a joint winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016 for his contribution to the design and synthesis of artificial molecular machines. To achieve this goal, he first of all played a major role in the invention of a new chemical bond – namely, the mechanical bond – which has changed the way chemists think about chemical bonding. His expertise includes not only chemistry, but also materials science and molecular nanotechnology. He joined HKU in September 2023 from Northwestern University, where he was a Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry. “The attraction of Hong Kong and HKU is the unique attitude of the young researchers at the graduate and postdoctoral levels. I get immense pleasure out of supervising and mentoring young Chinese students in science and chemistry. They are passionate, enthusiastic, committed – and they are kind and generous, they look after me as though I was their father. HKU, on the whole, is moving in the right direction and the time is right for coming here. I think the future is going to be an amazing one for HKU.” NOBEL LAUREATE SIR FRASER STODDART Professor John Murphy joined the Faculty of Law from the UK, where he established himself as a renowned expert in the law of torts. He has published in many leading Commonwealth law journals and advised both the UK Law Commission and Parliament on difficult matters of tort law. After three decades in the UK, he decided he wanted a new challenge – hence his decision to come to HKU. “I am immensely impressed with the way my Faculty is run and with the helpful and friendly colleagues I have acquired. I am trying to accomplish three main things: (a) to play a part making sure the Law Faculty at HKU comes top of the heap in the forthcoming Research Assessment Exercise; (b) to help mentor early and middle career colleagues, especially those working in fields of law that I know well; and (c) to help augment and fortify the reputation that HKU has in the area of private law.” LEGAL SCHOLAR JOHN MURPHY
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODI4MTQ=