活动

2025年12月2日

5:00-6:00pm

Shaw College Lecture Theatre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Professor Patrick Yung

Abstract & Bio-sketch

4:30pm

Communications and Public Relations Office
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Email:  events-cpr@cuhk.edu.hk

Bridging the Town & Gown: Synergism in Orthopaedic Sports Medicine

The term “Town and Gown” traditionally describes the cultural and social divide between a university (“gown”) and the surrounding community (“town”). In medicine, this can manifest as a chasm between cutting-edge academic research and its practical application for public benefit. Navigating from a sports lover, to being an Orthopaedic Surgeon, and ultimately as a humble clinical academics, Professor Patrick Yung has architected the divide between the “Town and Gown” in Orthopaedic Sports Medicine. As a kind of “Community Academics” in his field, he has created a synergistic model where research, education, public service and clinical practice are seamlessly integrated to serve everyone, from elite athletes to the general public, thereby making Hong Kong a global leader in the field.

With a mission on translating scientific research into widespread clinical practice, having an academic foundation with hundreds of scientific publications, Professor Yung ensures this knowledge is actively disseminated, not just published. A cornerstone of his philosophy is the democratization of knowledge from the elite to the grassroots. While he serves as a Medical Consultant for the Hong Kong Sports Institute for more than two decades, providing medical care to elite athletes to support them to excel for the glories of Hong Kong, his commitment extends far beyond. Over the years, he trained over thousands of people in sports medicine, locally and internationally, from amateur sports lovers to medical professionals alike. This cascade effect ensures that knowledge derived from treating high- performance athletes is adapted to prevent and manage injuries in school sports and community leagues, effectively closing the loop between specialized academia and public need. This systematic approach creates a permanent pipeline of practitioners who are educated in this community-focused model. These graduates become ambassadors of the town-gown synergy, embedding its principles across the healthcare and sports landscapes, thus ensuring the bridge is maintained and strengthened for future generations. Moreover, being the director and co-directors of two startup companies based in HKSTP through InnoHK and RAISe+ schemes, Professor Yung leverages local and international academic researchers together, translating science in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering into real biomedical products. Through linking the “Gown” to the “Town”, his centers making researches even more relevant and impactful to the society, benefiting human being suffering from different musculoskeletal disorder, and conjoining different efforts to strengthen Hong Kong as an international leading biomedical R&D hub.

Beyond the clinics, surgical theatres, classrooms and laboratories, Professor Yung also operates at the strategic level of public policy. In his roles as Chairman of the Community Sports Committee and member of the Sports Commission of the Government of HKSAR, he acts as a vital conduit. His expert advice guided the development of territory-wide facilities and community sports participation, the improvement of existing infrastructure, and the promotion of “Exercise is Medicine”, ensuring public policy is informed by evidence and expert insight.

In conclusion, Professor Patrick Yung does not merely venture out from the academic ivory tower to serve the community. Instead, as a “Community Academics”, he has engineered a deeply integrated system where his roles as researcher, educator, clinician, and policy advisor are interdependent. His academic work provides the evidence base for his community interventions, while the practical challenges encountered in clinical practice and the community inform and enrich his academic inquiries. He trained a new generation of sports medicine practitioners in this model, ensuring its longevity, and influences policy to create a more supportive environment for sports and health at a population level.

By making high-quality Orthopaedic sports medicine accessible to all, from the Olympic athlete to the schoolchild, and by embedding the principles of safety, ethics, and scientific rigor into the fabric of sports culture, Professor Yung has masterfully bridged the “Town and Gown,” creating a legacy where the health of the community is the ultimate measure of academic success.