Anyone can get blood cancer at any age, often with little prior medical warning. But new findings have shown that a biochemical process called DNA methylation may serve as a marker to predict the clinical outcome in blood cancers. The work is being carried out by the Haematology Team of the Department of Medicine at The University of Hong Kong. The team performed the first bone marrow transplant in Hong Kong in 1990 and is now a major regional referral centre for treatment of complicated haematology problems as well as conducting groundbreaking studies.

Professor James Chim, Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine, HKU, is a clinician scientist interested in clinical and translational studies in myeloma, leukemia and lymphoma. He has been a haemato-oncologist for over 25 years and is able to translate scientific advances to quality patient care.

His interests lie in the scientific studies of DNA methylation in haematological cancers, on which he has published more than 45 papers including seven reviews. His team is one of the first to show that multiple tumour suppressor genes are inactivated by the process of DNA methylation in blood cancers. They have shown that DNA methylation may serve as a marker to predict clinical outcome in blood cancers. The professor and his researchers have also conducted clinical studies in a disease called multiple myeloma, and recently they have adopted a total therapy approach by which they have improved the response rate, survival and quality of life of subject patients.

Professor Chim is the Founding President of the Hong Kong Society of Myeloma, and Program Director of Specialty Board in Haematology and Haematological Oncology, Hong Kong College of Physicians. He was the Chairman of the Hong Kong Society of Haematology from 2004-2006, and chairman or co-organiser of multiple international meetings.

He is also an Advisory Board Member of the International Myeloma Working Group and Chairman of Education Program, Asia Pacific Hematology Consortium.

Professor Chim is the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Genetics Study, Associate Editor of Hematology, and is/has been on the editorial board of more than 15 journals including Carcinogenesis, Journal of Hematology & Oncology, and Bone Marrow Transplantation. He was awarded the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award in 2009, and is Visiting Professor to Peking University People’s Hospital, Beijing People’s Liberation Army 301 Hospital, Soochow University, Shandong University, Tongji Medical College and Sun Yat-Sun Institute of Hematology.

He was an invited reviewer for scientific abstracts in the American Society of Hematology meeting in Orlando in 2011, and has been the external reviewer for overseas grant applications from funding agencies including Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, Leukemia Research Fund, Cancer Research United Kingdom, The Agency for Science, and Technology and Research (A*Star) of Singapore.

Professor Chim has been awarded two competitive RGC grants since 2008 and two post-doc fellows. He is also a fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Pathologists and has published more than 200 papers (being first and corresponding in more than 100) in peer-reviewed journals including Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Leukemia.

The University of Hong Kong has a great tradition in Haematology and possesses a world renowned Haematology team. The team performed the first bone marrow transplant in Hong Kong in 1990 and subsequently received a Transplant Award for pioneering the bone marrow transplant service in Hong Kong. Their team at Queen Mary Hospital is now a major regional referral centre for treatment of complicated haematology problems.

Professor Liang, who received his medical degree from the University of Hong Kong in 1979, is an internationally recognized leader in the areas of diagnosis and treatment of blood cancers. He is acclaimed for his views on the treatment of lymphoma and for blood cancer patients who are also chronic hepatitis B carriers. He has published over three hundred articles and book chapters in these subjects, and serves as editor, reviewer, and editorial board member for numerous well-known international journals.

He has actively led research into blood diseases and problems that are more prevalent in this part of the world, affecting a large population of people. This research has resulted in better understanding, more accurate diagnosis and more effective treatments of serious blood diseases, thus saving lives.

Professor Liang, through the Hong Kong Marrow Match Foundation, has made significant contributions to the establishment in Hong Kong of the first all-Chinese Unrelated Marrow Donor Registry in the world. The registry has served to locate unrelated marrow donors for Chinese patients who desperately require a bone marrow transplant for survival. Professor Liang has also established the Hong Kong Blood Cancer Foundation, which raises funds to support blood cancer research and to introduce the most advanced treatments for blood cancer to Hong Kong.

In addition, he has served in many other community and charitable organizations in Hong Kong, including the Hong Kong Bone Marrow Transplant Patients’ Association, the Hong Kong Adult Blood Cancer Patient Support Group, and the Hong Kong Red Cross. In recognition of this outstanding community service, he was awarded “The Ten Most Outstanding Young Persons Award” in 1995.

Professor Liang is also active in many international academic and professional organizations, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is regularly invited to give keynote lectures at major international meetings and to be a visiting professor at major universities around the world. He is also an enthusiastic teacher and has been awarded the University Teaching Fellowship.