Key facts
- HKUST denies poaching Professor Anskar Leung Yu-hung from HKU.
- Leung Yu-hung will serve as Senior Associate Dean of Medicine at HKUST.
- HKUST aims to collaborate with HKU and CUHK medical schools.
- The new medical school's teaching and research complex has topped out.
- HKUST plans to admit its first students in 2028.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has dismissed claims of poaching Professor Anskar Leung Yu-hung, a veteran haematologist with nearly three decades at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), to join its new medical school. HKUST President Ip Yuk-yu stated that the university employs a transparent global recruitment process and does not actively poach staff, emphasizing a desire to collaborate with HKU and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to elevate Hong Kong's healthcare standards. Leung Yu-hung, who will serve as Senior Associate Dean of Medicine at HKUST, indicated he resigned from HKU four months prior to his move and viewed the opportunity to build a medical school from the ground up as a rare and valuable experience. The university's new medical teaching and research complex has topped out, with plans to admit its first students in 2028 and a goal of having at least 100 full-time professors by 2030.