Honorary Fellow Professor LEUNG Tak Yeung (2023)

Professor Tak Yeung LEUNG graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, CUHK with distinction in O&G in 1992. Intrigued by the labour ward experience, he decided to pursue O&G training at the Prince of Wales Hospital and earned his fellowship in 1998. Devoted to serving the public, he initially set out his career path as a clinical administrator. He and Dr PM Yuen developed the computerized antenatal record for Hospital Authority, earning him his first outstanding team award from HA in 2003. However, realizing the importance of research during the SARS outbreak in 2003, he has since participated in many researches and was awarded Doctor of Medicine in the CUHK in 2005. In 2010, he left his comfort zone as a consultant in HA to join the CUHK as a Clinical Professor. He was later appointed as the Chairman of the O&G Department in 2013, and has been an Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at CUHK since 2018.

Professor Leung is distinguished in academia as his research expertise spans the fields of obstetric emergencies, fetal genetics and fetal therapy. With over 360 scientific papers published in international peer reviewed journals, he currently holds an h-index of 53. His outstanding academic achievement is recognized by the National Ministry of Education with the “Changjiang Scholar” award in 2021.

Professor Leung played an integral part in multiple advances in obstetric services in Hong Kong, such as the introduction of the first trimester combined screening for Down syndrome in 2003, and then expanded metabolic screening for newborns in 2013. Both of these services were subsequently adopted by HA as regular public services in 2011 and 2016 respectively. Besides collaborating with Professor Dennis Lo in the innovative development of NIPT, Professor LEUNG and his colleague Professor Richard Choy together developed chromosomal microarray, low-pass sequencing and whole genome sequencing for prenatal genetic diagnosis in HK. Recently, Professor Leung also obtained a grant from the Hong Kong Jockey Club to promote expanded genetic carrier screening for high risk couples. He also pioneered the development of fetal therapy in Hong Kong, earning his team the HA’s Outstanding Team Award for the second time in 2021.

Having served in the Hong Kong College of O&G since 2010, Professor Leung was elected as the College President from 2019 to 2021. (During his tenure as President, he introduced outstanding young fellows to the College Council as co-opted members, initiated training in genetics, and made the College’s guidelines publishable in the Hong Kong Medical Journal.) His expertise also earned him a number of positions in governmental organisations. One of his most notable advice to the Government was to stop the uncontrolled travel of pregnant women from Mainland China giving birth in Hong Kong which had overwhelmed the public obstetric and neonatal care system between 2005 and 2012.

Professor Leung also served in various positions of renowned international organisations of our field, such as scientific editor of British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Chairman of the Prenatal Maternal Screening Special Interest Group of International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis, and member of several committees of FIGO. Moreover, he has extended the influence of MFM of Hong Kong to Mainland China and South-east Asia through running various congresses and training courses in these regions over the past 20 years. These events, notably priced for their originality and uniqueness, have facilitated academic exchanges and teaching of the doctors of the next generation.

During the COVID pandemic, Professor Leung designed and launched the all-in-one teaching app called “Medicine Made Easy” to enhance undergraduate O&G teaching, for which he was awarded The Faculty Teaching Award by the Faculty of Medicine CUHK in 2022.

His works and professional ethos were recently documented in the RTHK programme 醫生與你: 醫學人in 2022.

Ms President, I present Professor LEUNG Tak Yeung for the Honorary Fellowship of the Hong Kong College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Dr LEUNG Tse Ngong
at the conferment ceremony in 2023