In recent months, members of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have obtained several major international honours and achievements, including the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023, the chairmanship of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), the European Society for Medical Oncology Lifetime Achievement Award, the Leonardo Da Vinci Award, and the Best Paper Award (Research Track) from the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (ACM SIGKDD) International Conference 2023.
Professor Katalin Karikó, Honorary Doctor of Science, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023
CUHK is delighted that Professor Katalin Karikó, Honorary Doctor of Science, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023. The groundbreaking discoveries concerning messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) made by Professors Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman are among the most important of the 21st century. The mRNA-based technology they developed and the vaccines based on it created the foundations for the successful fight against the virus that causes COVID-19 worldwide, making a major contribution to the containment of the pandemic. This has also opened the door for the prevention and treatment of other diseases in the future. Their Nobel Prize triumph is richly deserved. CUHK awarded Professor Karikó the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa in August this year, in recognition of her significant scientific discoveries and life-saving achievements.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Rocky S. Tuan elected as Chair of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities
Professor Rocky S. Tuan, CUHK’s Vice-Chancellor and President, has been elected Chair of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), a network of 60 leading universities from Asia, North America, South America and Australasia that takes in 19 economies. Established in 1997, the APRU brings together thought leaders, researchers and policy-makers to exchange ideas and collaborate on practical solutions to the challenges of the 21st century. Professor Tuan succeeds Professor Gene Block, Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, who served in the role for seven years.
Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Anthony Chan bestowed the European Society for Medical Oncology Lifetime Achievement Award
Professor Anthony Chan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Vice-President and Li Shu Fan Medical Foundation Professor of Clinical Oncology at CUHK, has been bestowed the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the most prestigious international honours given to cancer researchers, for his lifelong dedication to outstanding research in nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). Professor Chan has conducted pivotal studies that set new treatment standards in multimodal approaches to locoregionally advanced disease, developed clinical applications of biomarker Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA, and pioneered immunotherapeutic and targeted therapeutics for the disease.
Professor Liao Wei-hsin becomes the first recipient from Hong Kong of the Leonardo Da Vinci Award
Professor Liao Wei-hsin, Chairman of CUHK’s Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, recently won the 2023 Leonardo Da Vinci Award from the Design Engineering Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Professor Liao is the first scholar from Hong Kong to win the ASME Leonardo Da Vinci Award in its 45-year history.
The ASME commended Professor Liao for his outstanding contributions to the design and invention of machines and devices for human motion assistance, with applications in prostheses, exoskeletons and wearables such as smartwatches and wristbands.
Professor Cheng Hong and her research team become the first in Hong Kong to receive the prestigious Best Paper Award (Research Track) from the ACM SIGKDD International Conference
Professor Cheng Hong, Vice-Chairman (Graduate) of the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management at CUHK, and her research team have won the prestigious Best Paper Award (Research Track) from the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (ACM SIGKDD) International Conference 2023.
Current prompt techniques for AI models can only execute language commands. Professor Cheng Hong and her team proposed a novel prompt method that enables AI to understand, process and output non-linear data such as graphs. The new method increases the accuracy of AI models by 1% to 8%. The research fosters the development of general AI, making it possible to process complex geographical and traffic analysis, accelerate vaccine and drug development with biological information databases, and facilitate social network big data analysis.