University of Hong Kong medical school head Professor Gabriel Leung quits to join Jockey Club
- Leading epidemiologist has been at forefront of government’s Covid-19 strategy
- Leung announces resignation with ‘heavy heart’ and says he will leave at end of academic year
Renowned epidemiologist Professor Gabriel Leung, who has been at the forefront of the government’s Covid-19 strategy, has quit as the head of the University of Hong Kong’s medical school.
Announcing his resignation on Sunday, Leung said he would stay as dean of medicine until the end of this academic year, before joining the Jockey Club to oversee its charities and community affairs.
Leung’s contract with the university was supposed to end in July 2023.
In an internal email sent to the department’s staff and students on Sunday, Leung said it was with a “heavy heart” that he was leaving the university after 23 years of service.
“I will be dedicating the next stage of my work life to addressing the ultimate challenge of the ‘unethical epidemic of inequalities’,” he said. “I will focus my efforts on the ‘third redistribution’ or philanthropy.”
Professor Xiang Zhang, HKU’s president and vice-chancellor, said Leung had “tendered his resignation from the university” and he would be stepping down as the faculty dean “at the end of this academic year”.