With the support of the Henry Fok Macau Foundation, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) and the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada have held an agreement signing and donation ceremony in Hong Kong, focusing on research collaborations in the areas of neuroscience, cancer, diabetes and infectious diseases and academic exchanges to make a greater contribution to our community and global medical research.

Dr. Ian Fok, Chairman of the Henry Fok Macau Foundation, Dr. Manson Fok, Dean of Faculty of Health Sciences of Macau University of Science & Technology and recipient of Gusi Peace Prize International in 2014, Professor Santa Ono, President and Vice Chancellor of UBC, Professor Xiao Haipeng, Vice President of SYSU and President of SYSU First Affiliated Hospital, Professor Roger Wong, Executive Associate Dean of Education of UBC’s Faculty of Medicine, and Professor Kuang Ming, Executive Deputy Dean of Zhongshan School of Medicine, among other guests, attended the celebration and the signing ceremony. During the event, SYSU and UBC signed a cooperation agreement, and the Henry Fok Macau Foundation signed a donation agreement with SYSU and UBC respectively to conclude a new milestone in tripartite cooperation.

Professor Santa Ono (left), Dr. Ian Fok (middle) and Professor Xiao Haipeng (right)?in the signing ceremony

In his speech, Dr. Ian Fok, Chairman of the Henry Fok Macau Foundation, said that the Foundation is one of the charitable foundations founded by his late father Dr. Henry Fok Ying Tung, who in the past 40 years has supported development in education, healthcare, sports, culture and other charitable objects mainly in Greater China during her rapid modernization when there was great demand for all sorts of support. Dr. Fok said that it is more important, instead of just adding brick and mortar, to put increasing focus on international exchange in academics and research which are significant and complementary to scientific development. He believes that initiating cooperation and exchanges between the two schools will open up opportunities for further collaboration in wider medical fields in the future.?

Professor Ono of UBC said that the donation from the Henry Fok Macau Foundation will not only enable research symposia and student exchange over the next three years—it will significantly help to advance research in neuroscience, cancer, diabetes and infectious diseases while strengthening the scholarly partnership between UBC and SYSU. This partnership will also have an incredible impact on the wellbeing of families and individuals in our communities and around the world.
Professor Xiao Haipeng of SYSU said that the history of the university’s cooperation with UBC stretches back to 1981, when their bilateral relationship was formalized for the first time with a university-level MOU agreement. Through the subsequent decades, their cooperation has taken many forms in many fields. With the generous support of the Henry Fok Macau Foundation, the university will bring their partnership to new heights, and look forward to even more successes in their bilateral relationship.

According to the agreement, SYSU and UBC will collaborate over the next 3 years, in the fields of neuroscience, cancer, diabetes and infectious diseases to strengthen cooperation in research. SYSU and UBC respectively will hold a symposium annually with the first symposium to be held next March at SYSU. The theme will be neuroscience. In addition, starting from 2018, the two universities will exchange 4 graduate students each for a 3-month study to promote research and academic exchanges between the two universities.