Pollyanna Chung and Eric Cheung Professorship in Surgical Oncology

Laparoscopic surgery, or keyhole surgery, is a minimally invasive approach used to diagnose and treat conditions like cancers, hernias, and gastrointestinal diseases, and to collect biopsy samples. Using this approach, thin operating instruments including dissecting tools and a camera, surgeons use small puncture holes to conduct procedures in the chest, abdomen, or pelvis.

The advent of laparoscopy in the 1960s to 1980s marked a fundamental change in the evolution of medicine, transitioning from a purely diagnostic procedure to an independent surgical approach and is now used for complex surgical procedures. With developments in artificial intelligence and augmented reality, laparoscopic surgery may be on the verge of a new era.

Professor Chu Kent-Man is the Pollyanna Chung and Eric Cheung Professor in Surgical Oncology and is a Clinical Professor at the Department of Surgery at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), as well as the Director of the Surgical Endoscopy Service and the Director of the Centre for Education and Training.

His expertise is in endoscopy and surgery for the upper gastrointestinal tract. His main clinical and research interests are on peptic ulcer diseases, clinical and laboratory research on gastric tumours, minimally invasive surgery for the upper gastrointestinal tract, and surgical education. He introduced laparoscopic upper gastrointestinal surgery to Queen Mary Hospital in 1995, laparoscopic gastrectomy in 2001, bariatric surgery in 2007, and he pioneered the use of intracorporeal hand-sewn suture anastomosis after laparoscopic gastrectomy.

Professor Chu obtained his undergraduate medical degree from HKU in 1987. He was the 1999 International Guest Scholar of The American College of Surgeons, and received the Faculty Teaching Medal 2003 at HKU.

He is the Honorary Advisor, former President, and former Secretary General of the Asian Surgical Association, a former President and current Council Member of the Hong Kong Society of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, and is the Founding President and Council Member of the Hong Kong Endoscopic Ultrasonography Society. Professor Chu is also the President of the International Society for Digestive Surgery – Asian Pacific.

Professor Chu is the current President of The College of Surgeons of Hong Kong. He was the Censor-in-Chief, Chairman of the Education & Examination Committee, and Chairman of the Examination Committee of The College of Surgeons of Hong Kong. He was the Director of the Department of Education, the Chairman of Scientific Committee, and the Chairman of the General Surgery Board of The College of Surgeons of Hong Kong. He was also the Chief Examiner for the Joint Specialty Fellowship Examination in General Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and The College of Surgeons of Hong Kong till 2019.

Professor Chu is an Expert Reviewer for the International Union Against Cancer in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a Sentinel Reader for McMaster Online Rating of Evidence, McMaster University, Canada. He is, or has been, a member of the editorial board of 6 international journals. He was a member of the International Advisory Board for the textbook Schwartz’s Principles of Surgery. He has published one doctoral thesis, 7 book chapters, over 187 journal articles, and over 159 conference proceedings. He is ranked among the top 2% scientists worldwide by Stanford University.