Newsletter No. 46

CUHK Newsletter N0.46 September 1993 New Era of Medical Imaging Begins On 26th August, an innovative broadband communications network, MAGNET, was launched at the University's teaching hospital, ushering in a new era of medical imaging in Hong Kong. The first network of its kind in Southeast Asia and the first fruit borne of an on-going research on broadband communications by the University's Department of Information Engineering, MAGNET connects the department and the Prince of Wales Hospital with St. Teresa's Hospital in Kowloon. Medical images taken of patients by sophisticated diagnostic machines in these hospitals can be transmitted easily and speedily over this network. At present, 30 doctors, mainly radiologists and surgeons at the two hospitals, are registered users of the system. Wi th such a network, doctors and medical students can have fast and easy access to medical images to facilitate diagnosis. Joint consultation by doctors at different locations is also possible now. The network may eventually be extended to all local hospitals and even clinics of private doctors via their personal computers. More medical centres can therefore share the use of expensive diagnostic machines such as magnetic resonance imagers, tomography scanners, and nuclear medicine. The network may also be linked to similar systems outside Hong Kong, enabling the flow of medical advice from overseas experts. The optical fibre link in MAGNET has been provided by Hong Kong Telecom, a staunch supporter of the University's applied research programmes. Medical Exchange Between CUHK and Johns Hopkins University The Faculty of Medicine recently reached an agreement with the School of Medicine of the Johns Hopkins University, USA, to exchange staff and research ideas. The exchange agreement was signed on 3rd August by Prof. Arthur K. C. Li, dean of medicine, CUHK, and Dr. Michael Johns, dean of the School of Medicine of Johns Hopkins, and Dr. David A. Blake, executive vice-dean. Beginning in 1994, two senior academic staff members from each institution will spend six weeks each year in the other institution for research, clinical demonstrations and teaching. A wide range of other collaborative programmes will also be launched in due course. The agreement will formalize the existing exchange activities and lead to a close and long-lasting relationship between the two institutions. Established in 1893, the School of Medicine of the Johns Hopkins University is one of the most famous medical schools in the USA. It has excellent teaching and research support facilities and has for many years been the top recipient of research grants from the US National Institute of Health. GRATEFUL MED Test Site in the L i Ping Medical L i brary By courtesy of Dr. Richard Hsieh of the US National Library of Medicine, a test site for GRATEFUL MED was recently set up in the Li Ping Medical Library. Library users can now have direct on-line access, through Internet, to the databases in the US National Library of Medicine. Such databases include the popular Med l i ne, Tox l i ne, Cancerlit, Clinical Alert, and Bioethics. Team Spirit High Among Students of Executive MBA Programme The University's new Executive MBA Programme was launched on 23rd August at the Royal Park Hotel in Sha Tin. It started off with a 'Residence Week', which was a five-day training camp designed to cultivate team spirit among the trainees, who were all senior managers with substantial practical experience in China trade. They got to know more about one another through intensive team-building and team problem-solving activities, and exchanged management experience of various sorts during the five days. There were also a series of seminars and lectures on corporate structure conducted by distinguished senior business executives in Hong Kong and staff members of the Faculty of Business Administration. The highlight of the camp was a seminar on Asian and Hong Kong style management, jointly conducted by Dr. Victor Fung, chairman of Li and Fung Group, and Mr. Winston Lo, managing director of Vitasoy International Holdings Ltd. 2