Facebook
Linkedin
WhatsApp
The Hong Kong Life Sciences Society (HKLSS, the Society), was officially launched on 6 June. Supported by the Nan Fung Group, it is the first youth organisation specifically established to build a dynamic life sciences ecosystem in Hong Kong. The launch ceremony was held at The Mills with Mrs Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as the officiating guest.
Cultivating Talent
HKLSS was established in September 2018, with the aim of attracting, cultivating and retaining talent in Hong Kong’s life sciences sector through knowledge exchange, collaboration and engagement. The Society is currently doing its utmost to develop national, international and inter-disciplinary collaboration to promote Hong Kong as a hotspot for the life sciences. To this end, it is striving to obtain input from various stakeholders including the Hong Kong Government, higher education institutions, researchers, investors, and the new generation.
Summer Internship Program
This year HKLSS will launch the Summer Internship Program 2019, which will provide Hong Kong students with life sciences workplace learning and networking opportunities. It will also strengthen exchange and cooperation with the life sciences industry on the Mainland, and offer unique opportunities for Hong Kong young talent to experience the boom in life sciences taking place in China.
The officiating guest at the launch ceremony, Mrs Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong said, “Building a vibrant and diversified economy is one of the chief goals of the Hong Kong Government. We place great emphasis on our young talent especially in the areas of innovation, technology and the development of the sciences. Working hand in hand with the commercial sector has helped to foster this development, and thus contributed to a brighter future for Hong Kong and our people”.
Utilising the Energy of a New Generation
Mr Vincent Cheung, The Chairman of the HKLSS Board of Governors and Managing Director and COO of Nan Fung Group said in the ceremony, “The life sciences is essential to the development of humankind. The main objectives of establishing this society are to nurture young local talent, strengthen communications with China’s life sciences industry, and build a strong and sustainable pipeline of life sciences talent for local development.
“Hong Kong has a lot of outstanding scientific research talent and institutions. The fundamental research, clinical research and capital markets have all developed maturely. The establishment of One Country, Two Systems has created favourable conditions for the development of the. life sciences in Hong Kong. We can build a promising future with good collaboration with the Government, other practitioners, we, the investors, and of course our young people. At HKLSS we strongly believe that nurturing the next generation will bring an innovative breath of fresh energy to the sector and contribute to the scientific development of Hong Kong.”
Top Professionals
An Advisory Board was set up with top-notch professionals from the life sciences sector, to provide professional advice and suggestions to the Society. Among the international experts are:
-
Prof Nancy Ip: Vice-President of Research and Development, HKUST, and The Morningside Professor of Life Science. She is well-known for her seminal discoveries in the biology of neurotrophic factors, which are proteins that promote the survival, development, and maintenance of neurons in the nervous system.
-
Prof Dennis Lo: Director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, the Chairman of the Department of Chemical Pathology, and the Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine and Professor of Chemical Pathology of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He is one of Hong Kong’s foremost innovators in the realm of medical science and is one of only two Hong Kong scientists elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society.
-
Dr Gerald Chan: Co-founder of Morningside Venture Capital and Director of the Morningside Foundation. He is a member of Harvard University’s Global Advisory Council, the Dean's Board of Advisors of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Harvard China Fund. He has been actively involved in the private equity venture capital industry for more than 20 years. The Morningside Foundation, led by Dr Chan, made the biggest donation in Harvard University’s 400-year history, handing over US$350 million to its school of public health. The school renamed the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health after the late tycoon Chan Tseng-hsi, the father of Dr Chan.
-
Prof David Ho: Taiwanese-American medical doctor, Scientific Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Centre, and the Irene Diamond Professor at Rockefeller University in New York City. He has made many innovative state of the art scientific contributions to the understanding and technological treatment of HIV infection, notably his invention of cocktail therapy, and the combination anti-retroviral therapy.
-
Prof Malik Peiris: Co-director of the WHO H5 Reference Laboratory at HKU, Chair of Virology, School of Public Health, at the LKS Faculty of Medicine of HKU. He serves on many standing committees and ad-hoc advisory committees of international agencies such as the WHO and FAO. He is a clinical and public health virologist with a particular interest in emerging virus diseases in the animal-human interface. Together with Prof Dennis Lo, Prof Peiris is also one of the only two Hong Kong scientists elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society.
-
Prof Leo Poon: School of Public Health, the LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU Division Head of Public Health Laboratory Sciences, School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU. He specialises in the basic biology of RNA viruses and developing molecular diagnostic tools for infectious diseases.
Life Science Summer Internships
New knowledge and technologies are constantly changing the landscape of the life sciences and its many branches. To address the practical needs of emerging talent in the field, the Society is launching an internship program that will provide workplace learning and networking opportunities for our Hong Kong students. Current senior-year undergraduates and postgraduate students aged 18 or above, with an academic qualification in the life sciences or a related discipline are eligible to apply.
The program started its first recruitment in February this year and received over 220 applications. 30 finalists were selected following individual interviews with a panel including Mr Vincent Cheung, The Chairman of the HKLSS Board of Governors, and Ken Wong, the Executive Director of HKLSS.
The internships will be fully sponsored by the Nan Fung Group and will take place over four consecutive weeks in Shanghai in the Summer of 2019. They will offer a unique opportunity for the selected students to explore cutting-edge research, technology and the future of life sciences.
Participants will be able to expand their skills at various life-science related bodies including healthcare or pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca, WuXi AppTec and Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals; biotech start-up companies like Oncologie; venture capital firms such as Morningside Venture Capital, Vivo Capital and Pivotal bioVenture Partners China. They will also be able to engage with sector specialists and practitioners through networking and presentations. Intern positions will cover R&D, communications, data analysis and investment.
Coaching Activities
Apart from the Summer Internship Program, the Society will be organising a series of coaching activities in the coming years to encourage young talent to take up careers in the life sciences. Activities will include visits to life science faculties in Hong Kong universities, networking events, inter-disciplinary dinner talks, mentorship scheme, a Bench Café and a mega event: the Hong Kong Life Sciences Society (HKLSS) 2020 Conference.
Read more:
Visit to HKU’s LKS Faculty of Medicine
Visit to HKUST’s Division of Life Science