Crowned with honour
The Academia Europaea stands as one of the world’s most prestigious and exclusive academic institutions. Founded in 1988, this Europe-wide academy encompasses all disciplines, from the sciences to the arts, and boasts a distinguished membership that includes nearly 90 Nobel laureates. CUHK’s Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Dennis Lo Yuk-ming and Dean of CU Medicine Professor Philip Chiu Wai-yan were recently elected as foreign members of the prestigious community. This esteemed recognition celebrates their transformative contributions to clinical care and medical technology.
Professor Lo has revolutionised prenatal care since his 1997 discovery of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma. His non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) for Down syndrome, has now been used by over 100 million pregnant women across more than 100 countries, making the test safer and more accurate. But his leap forward in recent years is just as thrilling: advancing cancer liquid biopsy into the era of genome-wide analysis. By developing innovative genetic and epigenetic analysis, Professor Lo and his team have developed blood tests to facilitate the detection of multiple types of cancer, and introducing them for clinical use.
In 2025, Professor Lo’s pioneering work was further recognised by March of Dimes with the Richard B. Johnston, Jr., MD Prize in Developmental Biology, cementing his status as a global leader. This is yet another prestigious recognition of his outstanding contributions to the global medical science community, following his 2016 Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate in Chemistry, an honour considered as a predictive index of the Nobel Prize, and the 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, known as the “Oscar of Science”.
Professor Chiu has cemented his place as a global pioneer in endoscopic and robotic surgery. His 2020 world-first robotic colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) marked a leap in treating early-stage gastrointestinal cancers with minimal invasion. Building on his earlier milestones – Hong Kong’s first ESD in 2004, first Per-oral Endoscopic Myotomy in 2010, and first robotic gastric ESD in 2011 – Professor Chiu’s innovations continue to push boundaries. His nearly 400 published papers and leadership in founding the Asian Novel Bio-Imaging & Intervention Group in 2013 have promoted training in surgical techniques for early gastrointestinal cancer diagnosis in the Asia-Pacific region. His recent publication on the world’s first clinical study of robotic colorectal ESD earned him the Most Innovative Paper Award from the prestigious international journal Endoscopy.
With accolades like China’s State Scientific Technology and Progress Award and the 2023 Karl-Storz-Harold Hopkins Golden Telescope Award, Professor Chiu’s work at CUHK’s Multi-Scale Medical Robotics Center is setting the stage for a future where cutting-edge surgery saves more lives with every precise move.
Rising stars shine
CUHK’s brilliance also dazzled in the international sporting arena. At the FISU World University Games Summer 2025 held in July, student Yiu Kwan-to, alongside teammate Chan Ho-wah, won the gold medal in men’s doubles table tennis, securing Hong Kong’s first-ever FISU World University Games gold medal in table tennis. Meanwhile, student Adam Mak Sai-ting, Hong Kong’s record holder in the men’s 200m breaststroke, claimed a silver medal with a blazing time of 2:10.53. As the first male swimmer from Hong Kong to reach the Games’ podium, Mak did not stop there – he smashed four Hong Kong records in the 50m, 100m, and 200m breaststroke events over consecutive days. Their outstanding performance is a testament to CUHK’s knack for nurturing talent that shines on the world stage.
Climbing the charts
CUHK is also rocketing up the global education ladder. In the 2026 QS World University Rankings, CUHK has reached 32nd place, its best-ever performance. This four-spot jump from last year secures CUHK a position at the forefront among over 1,500 global institutions. This historic achievement highlights CUHK’s unwavering commitment to academic excellence, research innovation, and global impact. As the University continues to nurture talent and drive transformative discoveries, its legacy as a beacon of knowledge and progress grows ever stronger.
