Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2004

Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases T he Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases (CEID) was inaugurated on 17th January 2004. Located at the Postgraduate Education Centre of the Prince of Wales Hospital, the centre will capitalize on local and overseas expertise in epidemiology, microbiology, clinical medicine, and health economics, and work with Hong Kong's health authorities to strengthen the territory's preparedness for infectious diseases. The centre's missions are to provide training on infectious disease control to health care professionals and researchers, conduct research on epidemiology, the basic sciences and clinical management of infectious diseases, promote infectious disease preparedness in the hospital and university environments, and provide consultancy service to health authorities. Officiating at the inauguration ceremony were Dr. E.K. Yeoh, Secretary for Health, Welfare and F o o d ; Dr. Wi l l i am Ho, chief executive of the Hospital Authority; Dr. P.Y. Lam, director of health of the De p a r t me nt of H e a l t h; Prof. Ambrose King, vice-chancellor of the University; and Prof. Sydney Chung, dean of the Faculty of Medicine. Also present were members of CEID's advisory board. The occasion also saw the official opening of the symposium on ‘Preparing for Emerging Infectious Diseases: A Global Challenge' and the signing of memoranda of understanding between CEID and the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, the Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the School of Public Health of the University of California at Berkeley. Joint R&D in Chinese Medicine Research The Institute of Chinese Medicine (ICM) is collaborating with Long Far Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd. and NutriGreen on Chinese medicine research. • The ICM and Long Far Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd. announced the collaboration of research on allergic Rhinitis-Relieving Chinese Medicine Formula at a press conference on 6th November 2003. The ICM will carry out clinical and non-clinical research using a scientific, efficacy-driven approach to prove the effectiveness of the formula concerned. The innovative formula has been developed by enhancing herbal formulas adopted in Australia and Germany. • ICM and NutriGreen will work on the clinical study of a Chinese herbal compound formula as a cardiovascular tonic. This is the first study involving animal testings and clinical studies on the application of this compound containing Danshen and Gegen to the development of a cardiovascular tonic. It is also the first cross-boundary study of a Chinese compound formula for the prevention of heart disease with one of the key studies involving the participation of a medical institution in Sydney. The collaboration was announced on 5th March 2004. Prof. P.C. Leung (left), chairman of the Management Committee of ICM, and Mr. Jasper Chiu, chairman of Long Far Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd. Prof. P.C. Leung and Ms. Ming Pang, director of NutriGreen News in Brief 5 7