Message from Co-Directors

Welcome to the CUHK Centre for Bioethics!

It is with great honor and the most earnest sense of social responsibility that we assume the co-directorship of the CUHK Centre for Bioethics in March 2022, when Hong Kong is facing its most critical wave of COVID-19 to date since the initial worldwide outbreak in early 2020. The pandemic has exposed and amplified diverse bioethical issues, including but not limited to health inequalities, balance between communal goals and individual interests, as well as inequitable healthcare resource allocation. Despite being a devastating crisis, it is imperative to highlight some of these bioethical issues that have otherwise been largely overlooked at ordinary times, through interdisciplinary research, education, and public engagement.

In addition to the ethical issues posed by emerging infectious diseases, rapid advances in medicine and biotechnology (such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and genetic engineering) give rise to new ethical challenges, while much of the age-old complex ethical issues in health care and research have not yet been resolved. Open interdisciplinary dialogue and discourse are therefore more important than ever in an increasingly globalized but fragmented world.

In light of these developments, the CUHK Centre for Bioethics (CBioE) of the Faculty of Medicine was established on January 9th, 2015 with the aim to build a hub of resources in biomedical and healthcare ethics for educators and policymakers domestically and beyond. Housed with passionate colleagues and outstanding scholars of relevant disciplines and training, the CBioE is devoted to injecting robust ethical thinking into discussions of important bioethical issues and sowing the seeds for a new generation of health-related professionals with this line of thinking. While robust academic activities and scholarly programmes are already in place at the CBioE, exciting new plans and possibilities are also on the horizon as it continues to build collaborative partnerships with world-leading regional and international institutes in the field.

We welcome you to join hands with us to realize a more ethical and healthier future!