The Academic Review was especially significant because the Panel took a deep dive into what we have been doing since our last review in 2016. The Panel members were highly impressed by our progress, including our state-ofthe-art core facilities and technology platforms, our performance in the Research Assessment Exercise 2020, our establishment of the InnoHK centres and so on. They also confirmed that we are excelling at a very high level internationally, despite the unprecedented demands we faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they made recommendations that align very much with what we are already doing. This was a timely reflection for me personally, coming just a few months after I took up the Deanship. It was also a wonderful endorsement of everyone in the Faculty and beyond, who have helped us to succeed – my predecessor Gabriel Leung, who laid the groundwork that has enabled us to go the distance; the University and the Hong Kong community through their unfailing support; and, especially, our staff and students who have shed blood, sweat and tears on the road to excellence. The Panel’s recommendations are worth some elaboration. While nearly half relate to University-level policies, the majority are focused on how HKUMed can strengthen and transform its performance and impact. Among other things, the Panel recommended we develop our existing Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy into a School, foster cross-disciplinary research work, adopt a Team Science approach in appraising staff’s work, further align students’ training with the career opportunities emerging from new government policy directives, explore more opportunities for translating discoveries into diagnostics and therapeutics, and continuously strengthen core facilities and technology platforms. We have made progress in all these areas and the Panel’s recognition will spur us to advance this work much further. 6
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