Calendar 2000–01

!0 + Tel.: 2632 3637 Fax.: 2646 2284 E-mail: psychiatry@cuhk.edu.hk With the increasing size of the aging population, dementia care has become a pressing issue for many countries. The Dementia Research Unit of the Department of Psychiatry was set up in 1998 to organize and promote research in this area. The unit invites local and international collaborations. Its research focus is the genetic, epidemiological and clinical aspects of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. Tel.: 2632 2876 Fax.: 2632 2811 E-mail: cscockram@cuhk.edu.hk The Diabetes and Endocrine Centre was originally established within the Department of Medicine in 1985 as the Metabolic Investigation Unit and expanded into the current centre in 1993. The centre combines high quality service provision with many research activities. With the very significant increase in the number of people with diabetes in Hong Kong, the main focus of the centre’s activities is diabetes care and management, although a comprehensive range of other endocrinological services are also provided. Major research interests include the genetics of type 2 diabetes in the young, obesity and diabetes, diabetic complications and their management, and the development of diabetic care models and outcome measures. The centre also plays an important educational role and organizes seminars and training workshops for all health professionals involved in diabetic care. International collaborative projects are numerous. Partners include the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region. # ) & # # Tel.: 2635 1111 Fax.: 2637 3929 E-mail: jacritchley@cuhk.edu.hk The Drug and Poisons Information Bureau, run by the Division of Clinical Pharmacology, was established in 1987 and began providing a 24-hour, seven- day-week telephone service in December 1989. It gives advice to health care professionals on the diagnosis and treatment of all forms of poisoning and adverse reactions to medicines as well as on drug usage in general. It is manned by information officers who are usually nurses, pharmacists or junior physicians. These front-line staff are always backed up by an on-call consultant physician with a specialist interest in clinical pharmacology and toxicology. The bureau has access to various international databases listing over 500,000 entities as well