New Dean on Board – Steering the Faculty in Times of Change

The modern world is evolving at an unparalleled rate, and so must the scientific community. In the face of today’s unprecedented challenges, we need leaders who can inspire innovative solutions, impact society, and launch the Faculty into the future. We are pleased to announce Professor Qiang ZHOU as the new Dean of Science and Chair Professor of the School of Biological Sciences. Professor Zhou has just been on board this November. 

 

Before joining HKU Science, Professor Zhou was a Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1992. Between 1993 and 1996, he conducted postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Phillip Sharp at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He started his academic career at UC Berkeley in 1997, where he rose through the academic ranks to full professorship in 2007.   

 

As a world-renowned scholar, Professor Zhou has a keen research interest revolving around investigating viral-host interactions at the molecular level. His research discoveries, published in top journals and regarded by peers as major breakthroughs with significant and long-lasting impact, have led to the identification and characterization of a multitude of human proteins that control human host and HIV gene expression.

 

Professor Zhou is also a well-recognised educator. Among the PhD students and the postdocs he has mentored, many now hold independent academic positions in universities worldwide (including UC Berkeley, Harvard Medical School, etc.), or leadership positions in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry.

 

Professor Zhou has active and extensive international networks both in academia and industry. He had been a Charter Member of the NIH AIDS Molecular and Cellular Biology (AMCB) Study Section and served as an organiser of international symposiums held in the US, Europe, and Asia.  He has been serving on the editorial board of Cell & Bioscience since 2010 and was a scientific consultant to Novartis and Fochon Pharmaceuticals.  He directed the Tang Distinguished Scholarship Program, bringing in many highly qualified scholars to UC Berkeley over the years. 

 

While welcoming our new Dean, we would also like to extend our gratitude to Professor Vivian Wing Wah YAM for her committed stewardship of the Faculty as the Interim Dean during the transition period.