As the Project Coordinator, Prof. Vivian W.Y. Lui, Associate Professor of our School has recently been funded under the Research Grants Council (RGC) - Research Impact Fund (RIF) 2019/20 for a large scale, five-year Precision Medicine study entitled "Accelerating Precision Medicine Translation: Development of the First Evidence-based Clinical Exceptional Responder Gene-Drug Sensitivity Resource for Cancer". The project is approved with a total amount of HK$14.28 million, where HK$9.996 million comes from the RGC and the remaining 30% matching comes from the participating institutions. This is the largest of all RIF proposals funded in this round of exercise. The project investigates the genetic-drug sensitivity causes underlying exceptional therapeutic responses to impact and accelerate precision medicine development globally. This is the first exceptional responder study launching in Asia.

Prof. Vivian Lui leads this project, joined by the world renowned precision medicine leader, Prof. Gordon Mills from Knight Cancer Institute, Oregan Health & Science University, U.S.A, and collaborating Co-Principal Investigators, including Prof. Stephen K.W. Tsui from our School, Prof. Jason Y.K. Chan (Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, CUHK), Prof. Herbert H.F. Loong (Department of Clinical Oncology, CUHK), Dr. David W. Chan (Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Hong Kong), Dr. Ko Chi Bun (Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University), Dr. Cesar S.C. Wong (Department of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University), as well as organisation partner, Dr. Celine H.K. Cheng from Jean-Marie Pharmacal Co. Ltd.

We would like to extend our heartiest congratulations to Prof. Lui for her ongoing efforts and full commitment to pursuing research excellence.

Prof. Vivian W.Y. Lui