# CUHK Faculty of Medicine

The Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, branded as CU Medicine, is the medical school of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a public research university. Established in 1981 as Hong Kong's second medical school, the faculty consists of five schools offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including in the fields of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and traditional Chinese medicine. The Prince of Wales Hospital is the faculty's teaching facility and base of research. CUHK is a bilingual university; in general, courses are taught in English and/or Chinese.
The faculty remains to be one of the two medical faculties in Hong Kong, along with the older LKS Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong. They are the only two tertiary institutions which offer medicine and pharmacy education in the city. The CUHK Faculty of Medicine has been ranked as one of the top 50 medical schools in the world, despite its short history of 35 years as of 2016.

## History

The medical school of CUHK was approved to be established in 1974 by the Hong Kong legislative council and finished its basic construction to receive its first batch of medical undergraduates in 1981. The United Christian Hospital and the Kowloon Hospital were the teaching hospitals of the school prior to the opening of the Prince of Wales Hospital in 1984.
Later on, various schools and departments were opened as well, followed by the introduction of different programmes in other fields of healthcare and biomedical sciences other than the original medical one. With the establishment of the Department of Nursing, the Bachelor of Nursing (post-registration) and Bachelor of Nursing (pre-registration) degrees were introduced in 1991 and 1995 respectively at CUHK and the Department was then renamed as "The Nethersole School of Nursing" in 2002. Moreover, the Bachelor of Pharmacy programme was launched in 1992, being Hong Kong's first educational course in that domain. This is followed by the construction of the School of Public Health 7 years later which then has been providing the city's first and sole Bachelor of Science in Public Health programme starting from 2009. The School of Chinese Medicine which originally affiliates with the University's Faculty of Science transferred to the Medical Faculty from 1 July 2013 in consideration of the School's reconfiguration and development. During the time, various important medical related discoveries were also explored by the institute.
The first full-time dean the faculty was Gerald Hugh Choa [zh], who was appointed in 1977. Since 1 February 2024, the dean has been Philip Chiu Wai-yan.

## Programmes and admission

| Programmes | Annual intakes (as of 2019) | Study duration (years) |
| MBChB (Medicine & Surgery) | 265 | 6 |
| Bachelor of Pharmacy | 61 | 4 |
| Bachelor of Science in Public Health | 32 | 4 |
| Bachelor of Nursing | 217 | 5 |
| Bachelor of Chinese Medicine | 25 | 6 |
| Bachelor of Science in Gerontology (sub-degree entry only) | tentative | 2 |
| Bachelor of Science in Community Health Practice (sub-degree entry only) | tentative | 2 |
Currently, the majority of the seats are offered for students who are selected based on their strength in the local university entrance examination (HKDSE or previously HKALE) — the JUPAS students. Remaining ones are provided for non-JUPAS students, students who take overseas examinations such as GCE, or postgraduate students who have already completed a bachelor's degree. For example, the MBChB (medicine) programme offers 265 places annually, of which close to half of the places are allotted to non-JUPAS students. The duration of all programmes under the new HKDSE curriculum is at least 4 years, one more than that for former students who received HKALE qualifications. Non-JUPAS students will be assessed by the schools to decide their stream.
It is one of the only two tertiary institutions in Hong Kong which provide medical and pharmacy programmes and is the sole one that has a public health undergraduate programme. The competition is therefore fierce due to the limited numbers of intakes and a good examination performance is required, especially for medicine (MBChB) and pharmacy. Moreover, interviews are part of the selection process.
Following the UK model, medical students graduating from CUHK will be awarded the MBChB, which is the equivalent of the MBBS awarded by HKU. Other graduates will also be conferred with the corresponding Bachelor's degrees.
Moreover, the Faculty also provides different postgraduate programmes, including postgraduate diploma, Master's degrees and Doctoral degrees.

## Schools and departments
### Schools

The CUHK Faculty of Medicine consists of five schools, as of August 2024:
* School of Biomedical Sciences
* School of Chinese Medicine
* School of Pharmacy
* The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care
* The Nethersole School of Nursing
The School of Chinese Medicine was originally affiliated with the university's Faculty of Science, and became part of the Faculty of Medicine starting 1 July 2013.

### Departments

The CUHK Faculty of Medicine consists of 14 departments, as of August 2024:
* Anaesthesia and Intensive Care
* Anatomical and Cellular Pathology
* Chemical Pathology
* Clinical Oncology
* Imaging and Interventional Radiology
* Medicine and Therapeutics
* Microbiology
* Obstetrics and Gynaecology
* Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
* Orthopaedics and Traumatology
* Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery
* Paediatrics
* Psychiatry
* Surgery

## Affiliated hospitals

* Prince of Wales Hospital
* Kowloon Hospital
* United Christian Hospital
* CUHK Medical Centre