Media

Professor Xu Aimin, Professor at Department of Medicine and Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy of Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong, was recipient of a Croucher Senior Research Fellowship.

Four distinguished scholars from HKU were recipients of the Croucher Innovation Awards and Croucher Senior Research Fellowships this year. The awardees will be introduced in press releases issued over a few days.

Professor Xu Aimin’s research focuses on basic, clinical and translational research on obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular complications.  He discovered the bioactive form of the anti-diabetic hormone adiponectin, and uncovered the potential of adiponectin in protection against obesity-related fatty liver and vascular diseases.  In the past decade, his team has identified and characterised several fat-derived factors causally involved in the pathogenesis of obesity, diabetes and cardiometabolic syndrome, and has developed a series of innovative assays for these novel biomarkers for risk prediction, early diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of the above-mentioned chronic diseases.  Recently, his team discovered the liver-derived hormone FGF21 as a potential drug for treatment of atherosclerosis through adiponectin. 

For the biography of Professor Xu, please click here.
For the HKU press release on the Croucher awardees, please visit: http://www.hku.hk/press/news_detail_14426.html

The Croucher Senior Research Fellowships
The Croucher Senior Research Fellowships scheme was first introduced in 1997. The value of the awards are about HKD900,000 for the Senior Research Fellowship. The award includes a personal grant of HKD60,000 to the recipient for research expenses. It is awarded to local academics who have excelled in scientific research work as judged by leading international scientists invited to provide confidential reviews of candidates nominated in a competitive exercise. Funds are awarded to the universities of the fellowship recipients, enabling the university to recruit replacement teachers to take over the award winner’s duties for the period of the fellowship. This enables the awardees to devote more time and effort to research work.

Media enquiries:
Communications and Public Affairs Office, HKU
Melanie Wan, Senior Manager (Media)
Tel: (852) 2859 2600,  Email: melwkwan@hku.hk

Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, HKU
Miss Pinky Yu, Senior Project Officer (External Relations)
Tel: 3917 9306, Email: pinkyyu@hku.hk