Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1999

HKCI and consist of research laboratories managed by different departments of the Faculty of Medicine, including a Special Diagnostic Pathology Laboratory; a bone bank; two major labs devoted to the study of liver cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer; labs for cytogenetics, cellular imaging, chromatography, tumour marker and pharmacokinetics; a molecular biology lab, and a centralized tissue and serum bank. About a hundred researchers work in these laboratories. The Sir Yue-kong Pao Centre for Cancer is closely connected to the University's Department of Clinical Oncology which plays a central role among departments of the Faculty of Medicine involved in cancer treatment. Its chair Prof. Philip Johnson is also director of the HKCI The University department also works with the Hospital Authority department very closely in treating cancer patients and all treatment decisions made are joint. They are supported by a t eam o f 250, i n c l u d i ng 25 me d i c al d o c t o r s, 10 postdoctoral scientists, physicists, nurses, radiotherapists, and t e c h n i c i a n s . E a c h y e a r approximately 3,500 new cancer patients use the ou t pa t i ent facilities and services. In terms of patient load this would make it one o f the three b i ggest cancer centres in the U K and one of the ten biggest in the US. Each year the H K C I hosts an i n t e r n a t i o n al s c i e n t i f ic s ympos i um h i g h l i g h t i ng the most recent developments in cancer and providing a local forum where scientists and clinicians can exchange thoughts and ideas. Clinical Trials Clinical trials for new treatments are conducted by the self-funding Clinical Trials Unit of the Department of Clinical Oncology. Currently the largest such unit in Southeast Asia ， it conducts clinical trials of new drugs for cancers of the liver, nasopharynx, lung, Prof. Philip Johnson, director of HKCI, next to the Spectral Karyotyping machine. On the screen are the 'coloured' chromosomes. FACS Vantage flow cytometer being used to determine NPC tumour characteristics such as the percentage of dividing cells present in a biopsy specimen Medical Teaching and Research at CUHK 11