In 2005, the University celebrated the inauguration of the first 8 Endowed Professorships,
a milestone in the University's history.
To date, a total of 120 Endowed Professorships have been established.
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Dr Tam Sai-Kit

Tam Sai-Kit Professorship in Orthopaedics and Traumatology

"It is a pleasure to support my alma mater in this way. I know my gift will fund important research which may one day bring relief to many. It will also help to make sure that the Medical Faculty maintains its tradition of success in research and teaching and allow it to achieve even greater accomplishments." 

Dr Tam Sai-Kit

Frankie K L Leung

Frankie K L Leung

Appointed in 2019
Bone fractures are one of the most common injuries that people suffer, and the average person may have two during a lifetime. Broken bones are relatively widespread in the young and the old, and take around six to ten weeks to heal, depending on the age and health of the person and the type of break.

And while the young generally recover quickly, fixing breaks in the elderly is more complicated as their bones are more brittle. However, a simple but effective new medical screw design being pioneered at Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) may allow for better internal hip and shoulder fixations.

Professor Frankie Leung Ka-Li is Chief of Service of Orthopaedics and Traumatology at the Hong Kong University Shenzhen Hospital (HKUSZH), and Chief of the Division of Orthopaedic Trauma at QMH. He is a world-renowned expert in orthopaedic trauma care.

Professor Leung is dedicated to improving fracture fixation and implant design. He and his team have been looking into the effectiveness and practicality of various implant devices. Trials of new fixation devices, such as locking plates, nails, external fixators and more, have been conducted for fracture management.

Global populations are aging and the number of fragility fractures will continue to increase. The current implant design cannot fully address the problem of poor fixation in osteoporotic bones. Since 2014, Professor Leung and his team have been working on a novel anti-cut-out screw design for the internal fixation of osteoporotic hip and shoulder fractures.

The project received Innovation and Technology Fund support in 2016. As a result, his team were awarded Silver Medal at the 46th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva for this innovative screw design. More recently, his team won the top prize at the Hello Tomorrow Regional Summit. This helps to showcase the prominence of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) in innovation and technology.

He and his team at HKUSZH established a municipal Key Laboratory of Innovative Technology in Orthopaedic Trauma, with the support of the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission. He is leading the team to work on the use of different metal alloys in bone stimulation and the respective anti-infective properties.  

Professor Leung graduated from the Medical Faculty at HKU in 1989. He joined the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology at QMH as a Medical Officer in 1990. Due to his outstanding clinical and research work in fracture treatment, he was promoted to Consultant in 2005. He then joined the University and became a Clinical Associate Professor in 2009 and was promoted to Clinical Professor in 2015.

He has published in various international orthopaedic journals and has authored book chapters in AO Manual of Fracture Management - Internal Fixator, and Rockwood and Green’s Fractures in Adults, among
others. He is a pioneer in locking plate fixation of osteoporotic fractures and introduced the treatment to Hong Kong about two decades ago.

Professor Leung is active in educating young orthopaedic surgeons in the practice of fracture surgery. He organises annual fracture management courses and has been invited as keynote speaker at major orthopaedic conferences and symposia. He is currently deputy editor of the Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and editor of several journals in orthopaedic surgery.

His professional appointments include Senior AO Trustee (AO is the largest non-profit academic organisation in musculoskeletal trauma), Chairperson of the AO Trauma Global Research Commission, and National Delegate to Société Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopédique et de Traumatologie (SICOT) and the Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association for Hong Kong.

Keith D K Luk

Appointed in 2007

Even before the formation of the Division of Spine Surgery in the year 2000, the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology was well known for its research and innovation in spinal surgery.

Experience has accumulated over the past 40 years, with success reflected by the Division's numerous publications in the most reputable international journals, and the continued desire of many doctors from all corners of the globe to undertake spine fellowships at this University.

Professor Keith Luk Dip-kei, who graduated from The University of Hong Kong in 1977 and received his orthopaedic training in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, is an internationally recognised leader in the area of Spine Surgery. He is currently Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. Acclaimed for his research work in spinal pathologies, he has published widely in the fields of spinal deformities, biomechanics, degenerative diseases, has written over two hundred refereed articles, eighteen book chapters and holds eight patents.

In March of this year, he and his collaborators in China published, in The Lancet, results of the first successful series of intervertebral disc transplantations in humans. This innovative technique is considered a major breakthrough in the management of back and neck pain and should benefit numerous patients worldwide.

Professor Luk is a founding fellow of the Hong Kong College of Orthopaedic Surgeons and was President from 1999-2000. He was founding Director of the Centre for Spinal Disorders, at the Duchess of Kent Children's Hospital, in 1999. In the same year he established a Joint Centre for Spinal Disorders with the Peking Union Medical College.

In 1995, together with the Department of Health of Hong Kong, he started a Screening Programme for Scoliosis for all schoolchildren. This has now become a standard item in the territory's annual student health assessment programme. To date over 800,000 students have been examined, allowing for the early diagnosis of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and the avoidance of major surgery.

Professor Luk is a member of the editorial or advisory boards of many international journals including Spine, the European Spine Journal and the Journal of Spinal Disorders.

Remark: Previously known as Tam Sai-Kit Professorship in Spine Surgery