Donor
Tai Hung Fai Charitable Foundation
Tai Hung Fai Charitable Foundation is committed to helping the disadvantaged elderly and underprivileged young people in Hong Kong through disease and medical research funds, health-care services, medical support, emergency medical funds, and scholarships and professorships.
The Foundation was founded by Dr Edwin Leong Siu-hung, Chairman and Founder of Tai Hung Fai Group, which is notable in the property sector for its expertise in strategic property development, construction innovations and hospitality. With the support of the Foundation, the PolyU-Henry G Leong Mobile Integrative Health Centre was established in 2007. This Health Centre on wheels is dispatched on a regular basis to selected districts to provide free health checks to elderly people. It also serves as a cross-disciplinary research and learning platform for health-care professionals and students at the University.
Over the years, the Foundation has been engaging in many charitable initiatives addressing pressing needs of the community. Above all, its main focus lies in academic funding. The Foundation has so far set up five endowed professorships in honour of Dr Leong's late father Henry G Leong in support of scientific studies at local universities. Full scholarships and fellowships are offered to both Hong Kong and international students for them to broaden their horizons at universities abroad.
Given the breadth and depth of Dr Leong's personal commitment to the community, the Foundation will continue to proactively aid the needy and ultimately improve the quality of life for all.
Appointee
Ir Professor Yongping Zheng
lr Professor Yongping Zheng has been serving as the Founding Head of the Interdisciplinary Division of Biomedical Engineering since 2012. His education and career development is also an interdisciplinary story. He obtained a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and a Master's degree in Acoustics both from the University of Science and Technology of China, and his Doctorate degree in Biomedical Engineering from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Having been a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Physics at the University of Windsor in Canada, in 2001 he joined PolyU as Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering. He was promoted to Associate Professor and Professor in 2005 and 2008 respectively. Between 2008 and 2010, he also served as Associate Director of PolyU's Research Institute of Innovative Products and Technologies.
Professor Zheng's research interests lie in biomedical ultrasound instrumentation, ultrasonic elasticity measurement and imaging, three-dimensional ultrasound imaging, and smart aging technologies. Having trained more than 20 PhD graduates and Postdoctoral Fellows, many of whom are now university professors on the Chinese mainland, he is currently supervising eight PhD students. He is a Senior Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), currently Secretary of World Association for Chinese Biomedical Engineers (WACBE), a Fellow of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) and past Chair of HKIE's Biomedical Engineering Division. Additionally, he is Honorary Advisor of Hong Kong Medical and Healthcare Device Industry Association and serves on the editorial board as Associate Editors and members for some leading journals in the field.
As the owner of 35 patents, Professor Zheng has published 220 journal papers and has written a book entitled Measurement of Soft Tissue Elasticity In Vivo: Techniques and Applications. A host of technological inventions of his research team have been successfully commercialised for use in medical applications, including Scolioscan - a radiation-free scoliosis assessment system and diagnosis of breast cancer using 3D ultrasound imaging.
The Endowed Professorship will enable Professor Zheng and his research team to develop more innovative biomedical devices to benefit people with different diseases, particularly through screening and early diagnosis. Together with his colleagues and students, Professor Zheng is committed to contributing to the innovation-andtechnology-based re-industrialisation of Hong Kong.
