• China’s most prestigious honour in the field of engineering science and technology
• The only Hong Kong scholar in medicine and health to receive the award this year

Professor Francis KL Chan, Choh-Ming Li Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics in The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)’s Faculty of Medicine (CU Medicine), received the 15th Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award from the Chinese Academy of Engineering for his distinguished achievements in and contribution to medical research. The biennial award is regarded as the most prestigious in Chinese engineering science and technology, and engineering management. Professor Chan is the only Hong Kong scholar in the field of medicine and health to receive the award this year.

Professor Chan is an internationally renowned gastroenterologist dedicated to clinical service, education and scientific research of the digestive system. His work has revolutionised the prevention of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug- (NSAID) and aspirin-related gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. In recent years, he has focused on the translational research of gut microbiota. His experience has contributed to the transformation of Hong Kong into a biotechnology hub.

He is currently the Director of the Centre for Gut Microbiota Research at CU Medicine and the co-director of the Microbiota I-Center (MagIC), funded by the InnoHK initiative of the Hong Kong government’s Innovation and Technology Commission. MagIC is the first microbiota innovation centre in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Professor Francis Chan

 “I feel deeply honoured and humbled to receive this distinguished award from the Chinese Academy ofEngineering, as a recognition of my work over the years. Currently, my team and I have been focusing on applications of the gut microbiome, to bring health and hope to our next generation. Scientific research is a long and lonely road with an unpredictable return on investment. The Hong Kong government has been devoted to further developing the city’s medical technology industry, benefiting stakeholders in the field with favourable policies and abundant resources. We shall continue to advance in our field to help transform Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology hub in Asia,” Professor Chan remarked.

 

Starting his research career close to 30 years ago, Professor Chan is the first in academic history to publish eight first-authored, investigator-initiated, original research articles in The New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. He is also the first scholar in Asia to be profiled by The Lancet, in May 2007, underlining his excellence in clinical research. His ground-breaking research has generated over 860 full scientific articles in high-impact international journals, yielding an h-index of over 100. His research on the prevention of NSAID- and aspirin-related GI bleeding has led to major revisions to clinical practice guidelines in the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Using AI and confirmed by clinical trials, he and his research team have successfully developed a number of microbiome formulas, such as SIM01, to enhance immunity. His innovations have received several international innovation and entrepreneurship awards. 

 

The Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award has been presented to Chinese engineering science and technology experts and scientists every two years since 1996 to commend their important contributions and outstanding achievements in the fields of engineering science and technology, and engineering management. This year, 41 awardees were selected in total.

Awards and recognition Professor Francis Chan has received over the years

Professor Francis Chan’s contributions to medical research have been recognised worldwide with many national and international awards. Some of the honours he has received include the Croucher Senior Medical Research Fellowship 2007-08; the roles of Andy Martynoga Memorial Lecturer (England) in 2008, and JGHF Marshall and Warren Lecturer from the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology in 2011; and the Outstanding Scientific Research Output Award from the PRC’s Ministry of Education in 2011. In recognition of his outstanding academic achievements, he was bestowed with the title of Doctor of Science by CUHK in 2011. He was named the 19th Vikit Viranuvatti Lecturer (Thailand) in 2016, received the State Natural Science Award (PRC) in 2016, and was appointed the 27th Seah Cheng Siang Memorial Lecturer (Singapore) in 2017. He received an honorary doctorate from Osaka City University, an honour that it has only awarded 12 times in its 138-year history, and an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Thailand, in 2018. In the same year, the International Leadership Award by the American College of Gastroenterology was conferred on him, the first Chinese scholar to be selected for this honour. In 2019, the global physician directory ExpertScape named him a top 0.06% world expert in aspirin. He further received the Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury, and Gold Medals and Silver Medals at the International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva 2022 and 2023. He was named as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics in 2022 and 2023, demonstrating significant and broad influence in his field of study through the publication of multiple papers which ranked in the top 1% by citations during the previous decade, and received the Research Mentor Award from the American Gastroenterology Association in 2023. This year, he has been elected as a Foreign Member of the Academia Europaea. He has held visiting professorships at many institutions in China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Spain and the United States.

The Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award

The Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award is an engineering science and technology award administered by the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and has been presented to Chinese engineering science and technology experts every two years since 1996 to commend their important contributions and outstanding achievements in the fields of engineering science and technology, and engineering management. It is also the highest award in the Chinese engineering industry, covering nine professional fields: Mechanical and Transportation Engineering; Information and Electronic Engineering; Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering; Energy and Mineral Engineering; Civil, Water Conservancy and Construction Engineering; Environment and Textile Engineering; Agriculture; Medicine and Health; and Engineering Management. There have been 383 awardees and one group prize over 15 rounds of selection since the award was established.