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On January 10, 2020, the Department of Surgery held the Hong Kong Surgical Forum. The Department invited eminent speakers from Asia, Europe and the US to share cutting-edge scientific innovations, treatments, surgical techniques and technologies. A pre-forum workshop supplemented the main forum, delving into state-of-the-art magnetic surgery for restoration of function in gastroesophageal reflux disease. The main programme covered a gamut of topics from reconstructive genito-urethral surgery to pediatric surgery, from upper gastrointestinal surgery to bariatric and metabolic surgery, and from vascular surgery to surgical oncology. A notable highlight was the distinguished GB Ong Lecture, delivered this year by the Lord Ara Darzi on Digital Transformation in Health. The lecture drew on his experiences from developing artificial intelligence implementations for improving the health outcomes of the people of London. The Hong Kong Surgical Forum 2020 Professor Peter Sicinski , GRF/CES External Advisor, HKU, and Professor of Genetics, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, US, delivered a Zoom lecture entitled "Targeting the cyclin-dependent kinase 5 in metastatic melanoma". The event, on August 28, 2020, was hosted by the School of Biomedical Sciences. The lecture highlighted that cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) is dispensable for the growth of primary tumours. Professor Sicinski observed that ablation of CDK5 completely abrogated cancer metastasis, revealing that CDK5 is essential for metastatic spread of cancer. In mouse and human melanoma cells, CDK5 promotes cell invasiveness by directly phosphorylating an intermediate filament protein, vimentin, thereby inhibiting the assembly of vimentin filaments. Chemical inhibition of CDK5 blocks the metastatic spread Zoom Lecture Focuses on Human Cancers of patient-derived melanomas propagated as patient-derived xenograft (PDX) in immune-deficient mice. Hence, inhibition of CDK5 might represent a very potent therapeutic strategy to impede the metastatic dissemination of malignant cells. Over 90 participants attended the lecture via Zoom. 26 Inside the Faculty