Media

Centenary Distinguished Lecture by Professor Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Professor Susan Desmond-Hellmann: "The Future of Medicine: Connecting Patients to Promising Research"

01 Dec 2011

On Dec 2 (Friday), Professor Elizabeth H. Blackburn, recipient of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 and Professor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, will visit the University of Hong Kong and deliver a Centenary Distinguished Lecture entitled "The Future of Medicine: Connecting Patients to Promising Research". In the lecture, the two international experts on biomedical research and drug development will discuss Dr Blackburn's groundbreaking work on aging and how it applies to the future of medicine.

Professor Blackburn is a leader in the area of telomere and telomerase research. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine in 2009, for solving one of biology's great mysteries: how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase. Telomeres and telomerase play an important role in various diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It also let people understand how cells and bodies age.

Professor Desmond-Hellmann is an oncologist and renowned biotechnology leader. She served as president of product development at the biotechnology company Genentech before she assumed the post of Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco. In 2009, Forbes magazine named her as one of the world's seven most "powerful innovators", calling her "a hero to legions of cancer patients".

The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Shaw Prize recipient Professor Yuet Wai Kan, and with Dr Hardy Chan, Chief Executive Officer of Tanvex Biologics, Inc., and Professor Sum-ping Lee, Dean of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, HKU as panelists.  

Besides, a group of 20 senior secondary school students and HKU undergraduates will meet Professor Elizabeth H. Blackburn for "Lunch with a Laureate". As an extension of the Centenary Distinguished Lectures, the "Lunch with a Laureate" aims to foster Knowledge Exchange between university and secondary schools, and help students broaden their horizons by meeting face-to-face with some of the most brilliant minds in the world today.

Members of the media are cordially invited to cover the events, the details are listed as follows:

Lunch with a Laureate

Media Interview Session

Centenary Distinguished Lecture

For details of the lecture, please visit http://www.tto.hku.hk/public/centenary_lecture2011/.

The Centenary Distinguished Lectures
As part of its 100^th anniversary celebrations in 2011 - 12, the University of Hong Kong is proud to present a series of Centenary Distinguished Lectures. Delivered by Nobel laureates and distinguished scholars from a wide range of disciplines, the Lectures will bring some of the most brilliant minds of today to HKU, to share their expertise, experience and world-class scholarship with the University community and the public.

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Trinni Choy (Assistant Director (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2606 email: pychoy@hku.hk or Ms Melanie Wan (Manager (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2600 email: melwkwan@hku.hk.