University of Hong Kong veteran professor ‘poised to become next medical school head’ after serving as interim dean for over a year
- University council members told in meeting that president Xiang Zhang will endorse Professor Wallace Lau for position, the Post has learned
- Lau is preferred candidate over US professor specialising in surgery, according to insiders
A veteran professor at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) is poised to become the head of its medical school after serving as the interim dean of the faculty for more than a year, the Post has learned.
Multiple sources on Tuesday said the selection process had entered its final stage. It is understood that members of the university’s council were informed in a meeting last week that HKU president and vice-chancellor Xiang Zhang would endorse Professor Wallace Lau Chak-sing, a rheumatology specialist, for the permanent position.
Two of the insiders said Lau was the preferred candidate over a US professor specialising in surgery, who had also made it to the final round of the hiring process.
But it is understood that the council has yet to discuss Zhang’s suggestion. In the past, the vice-chancellor would make a recommendation for the role based on the search committee’s advice for the council to approve.
In addition to overseeing the faculty, the dean is also expected to work closely with the university’s teaching hospitals, including Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam.
The Post has reached out to Lau for comment.
A university spokesman said the recruitment process was “still in progress”, adding it had rigorous procedures in place for the selection of faculty heads.
“An official announcement will be made once a decision has been reached,” he said.
The search for a new medical dean has been the subject of recent allegations against Zhang concerning the mishandling of university matters.
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According to a source, all council members had earlier received documents from whistle-blowers who made a series of accusations against the president, including recruiting a headhunter from the United States without a tendering process to hire a vice-president and medical dean for the university.
The source also claimed that Zhang had specifically requested that candidates should have experience working at a US tertiary institution.
But the university president said in a statement that the information leaked by “rumour-mongers” was taken out of context and that he was being targeted personally.
It is unclear whether candidates having any US experience factored into the selection process for the medical dean role.
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Lau’s background does not include any professional experience in the country, according to his biography on the university website.
A graduate of the University of Dundee in Scotland, Lau first joined HKU in 1992 as a lecturer, and later returned to his alma mater to take up a chair professor position. He rejoined the institution in 2010.
Lau also served from 2016 to 2020 as president of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, the city’s specialist training institution.
The other candidate is Timothy Billiar, according to two sources. He is a professor of surgery from the University of Pittsburgh in the US.
Lau assumed the role of interim medical dean in August last year, after his predecessor Professor Gabriel Leung quit and joined the Jockey Club to oversee its charities and community affairs.
In a statement released earlier on Tuesday, HKU said it was common to hire a multinational headhunter to recruit university scholars from around the world.
A spokesman added that US universities had experience and mature mechanisms when it came to fundraising.
HKU expected the new vice-president would oversee campus development to establish a fundraising system based on US universities to boost donations, while the medical dean should have “overseas experience”, he said.
Jin Dongyan, a professor of biomedical sciences and the senior associate dean of HKU’s graduate school, said he had no knowledge of whether Lau had been selected as the dean.
“[The medical school] is not only the flagship of HKU but also highly influential in Hong Kong and the world,” he said.
“It will only fly high and to the next level of excellence if it is in the hands of a dean who knows it, has the respect from faculty members, has demonstrated great leadership during a very difficult time, and also can work with the president and the senior management team.”
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The university could learn from US tertiary institutions, but the fundraising culture in the country was “drastically different” to Hong Kong’s, Jin said.
The scholar said donations in the US were usually made to organisations dedicated to certain diseases, which would then distribute the funds to various scientists.
In Hong Kong, funding mostly came from the government or billionaires who had received treatment from the medical experts, he added.
“This culture can’t be changed in a short period of time,” he said.
“[HKU’s medical faculty] is very special in the world as it was born out of the United Kingdom’s public hospitals and universities. The dean has to be very familiar with the systems in both Hong Kong and the US in order to execute great ideas.”
