Neurological disorders are the leading cause of death and disability in the world today, according to a 2017 report by the Global Burden of Disease Study. As life expectancy grows and the global population increases so do the rates of associated diseases such as stroke, head injury, Parkinson's disease and dementia.

Clinical neuroscience is a branch of biomedicine that focuses on the scientific study of the fundamental mechanisms that underlie diseases and disorders of the nervous system. It seeks to develop new ways of diagnosing such neurological disorders that cause disturbances in the normal functioning of the body, and ultimately to develop novel treatments.

Professor Gilberto Leung Ka-Kit is a Clinical Professor and the holder of the Tsang Wing-Hing Professorship in Clinical Neuroscience at the Department of Surgery at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He is an Assistant Dean of the Medical Faculty, Director of the Centre of Education and Training of the Department of Surgery, and Director of Trauma Service of Queen Mary Hospital (QMH). Professor Leung specialises in neurotrauma and brain tumours management at QMH, where he provides clinical services as an Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon.

Professor Leung's clinical and research interests include endoscopic skull base surgery, neurotrauma, the molecular biology of brain tumours, neuroprotective therapy as well as medical education, law and ethics. His work includes translational laboratory studies that encompass a wide range of areas including neuro-oncology, cerebrovascular diseases and neurotrauma in order to provide relevant and translatable pre-clinical evidence that addresses important unanswered questions.

In neuro-oncology, he focuses on overcoming chemoresistance in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a type of incurable, highly malignant brain tumour. He has identified novel molecular candidates that may serve as promising therapeutic targets, and is collaborating with local and overseas biotechnology companies to investigate the application of novel therapies for these purposes. His team was the first to profile long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in GBM.

Professor Leung was one of the principal investigators in the world's first umbilical cord blood cells transplantation for spinal cord injury patients conducted in conjunction with The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Rutger's University in the United States. This work demonstrated the feasibility and safety of the treatment, and subsequently led to further clinical trials.

In 1992 he graduated from the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, with an MBBS, and the University College London with a BSc (Physical Anthropology). During his surgical training in the UK, the US and Hong Kong, he was awarded the Hallett Gold Medal by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the J Douglas Miller Medal in Neurosurgery by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He joined HKU in 2005 where he obtained two doctorate degrees of an MS and a PhD. He holds an LLM degree in Medical Law and Ethics with Distinction from the University of Edinburgh, receiving the McLagan Prize for Best Graduate. 

Professor Leung currently serves as Vice-President of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, and Chairman of the Academy's Education and Examination Committee. He is the Region XVI Chief (Asia-Australasia) of the Advanced Trauma Life Support Programme of the American College of Surgeons, and a governor of the College's China-Hong Kong Chapter. He teaches in low to middle-income countries as a travelling faculty for the Asian Australasian Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

He has supervised 12 past or current postgraduate students, focusing on clinical and translational researches in neuroscience. He has authored and co-authored 143 peer-reviewed journal articles, nine book chapters, two monographs, 117 conference papers, 46 other publications, and delivered 93 invited lectures.