News

RS Inauguration Ceremony 2019/20

The Inauguration Ceremony 2019-2020 of Department of Rehabilitation Sciences (RS) was held on the morning of 28th August 2019, marking the beginning of a new academic life for a new cohort of students. Over 200 guests, comprising the government officials, scolarship donors, clinical educators, RS academic staff and students, attended the Ceremony. Addressing the Ceremony, Prof. Hector Tsang (Cally Kwong Mei Wan Professor in Psychosocial Health, Chair Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences and Head of RS) began his speech by extending a warm welcome to all of the newly admitted physiotherapy and occupational therapy students. He was glad to share the incredible JUPAS admission figures of this year that remain marvelous and outstanding as always, with almost 40 freshmen scoring 36 of above in their best six subjects in HKDSE. Despite of the outstanding results, he hoped that the freshmen could stay humble and never be complacent of themselves. He also advised them to expose themselves to the opportunities of learning outside Hong Kong, given the fact that RS has established numerous prestigious partners with overseas and Chinese Mainland universities on clinical placement. Prof. Tsang then presented some updates on the completion of new teaching and research facilities in the near future, which include three new teaching and research laboratories, new campus in Homantin and a new Rehabilitation Clinic. On behalf of RS, he would like to express his sincere thanks to the support of PolyU management and the HKSAR government, especially the Food and Health Bureau. We were honoured to have the presence of Dr Chui Tak-yi (Under Secretary for Food and Health of Food and Health Bureau, HKSAR) as our officiating guest and to give us a speech. Dr Chui addressed the problem of a shortage of manpower in rehabilitation sector in Hong Kong and he was glad to see the admission of elite students who decide to serve the Hong Kong community as physiotherapists and occupational therapists in the coming years. He wished the freshmen a fruitful and enjoyable university life in RS. Followed by a series of prize presentations to both the awarded teaching staff and top students, Prof. Hector Tsang made a closing remark with warm congratulations to the recently promoted staff members and a vote of thanks to all the guests who attended the Ceremony.

“In Serving, We Learn!” PolyU RS Hospital-Community Rehabilitation Conference, Kunming 2019

PolyU RS has jointly organized with Yunnan Association of Rehabilitation Medicine to hold the Hospital Community Rehabilitation Conference in Kunming on 24-25th August, 2019 with the theme - “To nurture future community rehabilitation professionals”. Prof. Hector Tsang, Cally Kwong Mei Wan Professor in Psychosocial Health, Chair Professor and Head of Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, PolyU delivered a keynote speech to introduce the historical and latest development of community rehabilitation in Hong Kong and shared his valuable vision with audiences on the opportunities for community rehabilitation professionals in Greater Bay Area. Led by Prof. Cecilia Li-Tsang, Mr Tony Wong and Mr Tang Kin-Chung, the “PolyU RS Community Rehabilitation Educational Model Building Team” shared their experience in providing rehabilitation services within the community after disasters with an ultimate goal - to establish a new and sustainable clinical training model not only to nurture future rehabilitation but also to establish a yardstick of quality to serve the vast amount disables in the community across the Chinese mainland. This is a massive collaboration project with five universities including Capital Medical University, Kunming Medical University, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Sichuan University and Shanghai of University Traditional Chinese Medicine. The dedicated “We Care We Share” PolyU RS Occupational Therapy student service-learning team presented their previous community service works in Yunnan, sharing their fruitful and satisfying learning experiences. They have invited a group of their service users onto stage sharing their changes in life that touched audiences hearts. PolyU RS, with the teaching faculties and student service-learning teams have been dedicated to serve and support the development of community rehabilitation ever since the devastating Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008. They are passionate to devote their professional skills and knowledge to promote physical and psycholsocial health and to maximize function for persons with disabilities in the community. The project team is working on more extensive collaborations across allied health disciplines, and even across professionals in engineering and designs from local to overseas in the future, achieving the goal of "In Serving, We Learn".

OTSA Elite Occupational Therapist Taster Programme (EOTTP) 2019

Members of Occupational Therapy Student Ambassador (OTSA) has been striving their best to organize various activities for Occupational Therapy (OT) students to broaden their horizons and for the general public to promote OT profession. With secondary school students being one of the major targets of promotion, they organised Elite Occupational Therapist Taster Programme (EOTTP). With the enormous support from the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences (RS), EOTTP was successfully held on 6 July 2019 at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Over 100 aspiring participants from more than 40 top secondary schools in Hong Kong have joined on this special occasion. After the opening speech given by Dr Andy Cheng (Associate Professor of RS), a kick-off ceremony was done to announce the commencement of the activity. In order to give the participants an overview of OT beforehand, we have invited Mr Tony Wong (Clinical Associate of RS) to have a brief sharing about OT and PolyU OT Programme. After the sharing, the participants were divided into small groups led by OT students and began their one-day experience as an Occupational Therapist. In order to provide a thorough view on the roles and expertise of Occupational Therapists, we have prepared laboratory tours and hands-on experience for the participants. By visiting the teaching classrooms, participants could develop basic understanding about home modification, remedial activities and some common musculoskeletal disorders. On the other hand, we have introduced several OT concepts and models, including 8 areas of occupation and Person-Environment-Occupation Model. With these concepts, participants were encouraged to think as an Occupational Therapist and work on some simple case analysis. It is hoped that the secondary school students could develop a clear picture of OT through this one-day programme. Although EOTTP is the last event organised by OTSA in the academic year 2018-2019, OTSA would continue to promote our profession through different activities in the future.

Physiotherapy Summer Programme 2019

PolyU Summer Programme 2019 – Physiotherapy (PT) was successfully held on 27 June 2019 with over 80 secondary five students from top local secondary schools. The programme aims to enhance the understanding of anatomy for physiotherapy practice. Dr Billy So, Assistant Professor (PT), welcomed the participants and introduced the content of the programme. In order to let the participants to warm up and get to know each other, current PT students from Physiotherapy Students’ Society (PSS) led the ice-breaking activities after the opening speech. After the ice-breaking activities, participants were divided into 4 groups to take turns to attend different mini-lecture sessions, which were: "Anatomy and Physiology of cardiorespiratory system" by Dr Alex Cheung (Research Assistant Professor, PT);  "Functional Anatomy in Lower Limb" by Dr Billy So (Assistant Professor, PT); "Human Anatomy: Facilities and Learning experience" by Dr Stanley Winser (Assistant Professor, PT); and "Fundamental neuroscience research using animal models" by Dr Sonata Yau (Assistant Professor, PT) respectively. The participants enjoyed the mini-lecture sessions since they can experience the mock class of PT programmge. At the end of the programme, Dr Billy So shared the information about admission requirements, course content and career perspective of PT programme.

Occupational Therapy Student Ambassador (OTSA) Young Professional Exchange Program 2019

In the Young Professional Exchange Program, our group of 30 occupational therapy students went to Chiang Mai and Bangkok in Thailand for a week to learn about the practice of OT there. We visited the facilities in the Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences in CMU, the Industrial Rehabilitation Northern Centre, the Rajanagarindra Institute of Child Development, and the Christian Care Foundation for Children with Disabilities. An overall observation is that Chiang Mai has larger physical space for practice, and thus allows a more immersive experience for rehab patients. For example, the Rajanagarindra Institute of Child Development is a large building shaped like a gigantic piano, in which children can receive therapy in well-decorated sensory integration and relaxation rooms, and start vocational training in the simulated settings. Furthermore, the cultural factor of rehabilitation methods is also prominent in their practice. The Industrial Rehabilitation Northern Centre includes the production of silkscreen painting, glass etching and Lanna art as part of vocational rehab. Lanna is a type of three-dimensional art only found in Northern Thailand, where one uses hammer and nails to sculpt an image that protrudes out of a silver or aluminum sheet. It makes us wonder what local art forms can be used therapeutically back home. We also paid a visit to the Elephant Conservation Center located in Lampang to learn about Elephant-Assisted Therapy for children with Autism and Down Syndrome. All the fun aside, we also experienced the abstract feeling of human-animal bond that is used in animal-assisted therapy - the sense of calmness and wonder that is intrinsic in humans is a magical feeling. Knowing that enthusiastic practitioners are making the best of this natural marvel in OT practice, we leave Thailand a little more knowledgeable and a immensely more inspired.

PolyU Signs Memorandum of Understanding with HKU-SZ Hospital

Department of Rehabilitation Sciences (RS) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Hong Kong – Shenzhen Hospital (HKU-SZ Hospital) on 31 May 2019 at the HKU-SZ Hospital. The purpose of this MoU is to facilitate in-depth integration in the areas of rehabilitation profession development and training within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area), as well as to further deepen cooperation between RS and HKU-SZ Hospital. Both parties undertake to promote and develop collaborations on mainly five areas including: (1) Exchange of professional knowledge and training (2) Mutual support of rehabilitation service provision (3) Exchange of students (4) Provision of training by academic staff (5) Collaboration in clinical research projects. Witnessed by over 100 RS colleagues and medical professions of HKU-SZ Hospital, the MoU was signed by Prof. Hector Tsang (Cally Kwong Mei Wan Professor in Psychosocial Health, Professor and Head of RS) and Prof. Lo Chung-Mau (Hospital Chief Executive of HKU-SZ Hospital). It is believed that the MoU will strengthen the partnership of both parties in terms of teaching and clinical practice, as well as the development of rehabilitation services.

5th Elite Alumni Seminar

The 5th Elite Alumni Seminar was successfully held on 22th May 2019. Over 100 guests including government officials, senior management from PolyU, staff, alumni, students and friends gathered at the Regal Kowloon Hotel to join the Seminar. We were so pleased to have Ir Prof. Ben Young (Vice President (Student Affairs) of PolyU) delivering his welcome speech, Dr Choi Yuk Lin (Under Secretary for Education of Education Bureau, HKSAR) and Mr Wong Kwok Hing (Deputy Commissioner of Correctional Services Department, HKSAR) as our guest speakers. Dr Choi Yuk-lin is a parent of a graduate from Physiotherapy Programme. She is a veteran education practitioner, having worked in the education field for over 30 years. She shared the story of her son’s study at PolyU and being a physiotherapist after graduated. Mr Wong Kwok Hing graduated from the Occupational Therapy (OT) programme and is now Deputy Commissioner of Correctional Services Department, HKSAR. He shared the works doing by Correctional Services Department (CSD) in order to create rehabilitation opportunities for persons in custody and promoting law-abiding and inclusive values through community education. At the end of the 5th Elite Alumni Seminar, Prof. Hector Tsang delivered vote of thanks. Prof. Tsang expressed his warmest appreciation to Dr Choi and Mr Wong for the sharing, and looked forward to the next Elite Alumni Seminar in the coming future.  Please click here for more photos.

PolyU Signs Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Wisconsin–Madison on 22 May 2019 at PolyU. The purpose of this MoU is to develop academic and educational collaborations on the basis of equality and reciprocity and to promote relations and mutual understanding between the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences of PolyU and the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology & Special Education in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Congratulations to Dr Arnold Wong for winning “SOSORT 2019 Paper Award”

Dr Arnold Wong, Assistant Professor (Physiotherapy) of Department of Rehabilitation Sciences (RS) received the SOSORT 2019 Paper Award in 14th International SOSORT Meeting 2019. The Award was presented to Dr Arnold Wong and his team that included researchers from six institutions in three different countries for the research paper entitled "Are lung functions related to spinal deformities in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis? A systematic review and meta-analysis”. Society on Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT) is a non-profit organization. The general aims of the SOSORT are to foster the best conservative management, early detection, prevention, care, education and information of scoliosis and other spinal deformities, and to encourage multidisciplinary teamwork, including scientists, medical and healthcare professionals, patients and their families. The SOSORT Paper Award is a continuing the tradition started at the 2008 meeting in Athens, the SOSORT Paper Award is presented to the two best eligible research papers presented during the Annual Meeting. 

Congratulations to two RS graduates, Dr Herman Lau and Mr Elton Ng, for receiving “Outstanding PolyU Alumni Award 2019”

The Department of Rehabilitation Sciences (RS) is proud to announce that two RS graduates, Dr Herman Lau and Mr Elton Ng, have been selected as the recipients of Outstanding PolyU Alumni Award 2019. Jointly organized by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and the Federation of PolyU Alumni Associations, the biennial Outstanding PolyU Alumni Award aims at honouring outstanding graduates of PolyU and its forerunning institutions for their remarkable professional achievements and contributions to the community and their alma mater. The 12th award presentation ceremony was successfully held on 30 April 2019. Out of the total of nine alumni receipts, two are RS graduates. One of the recipients is Dr Herman Lau Mun-cheung, who is RS graduate in Physiotherapy. Dr Lau possesses vast healthcare management experience and is currently the Chief Executive of three hospitals in the New Territories East Cluster (NTEC) of the Hospital Authority, namely Bradbury Hospice, Cheshire Home, Shatin and Shatin Hospital. Being the first physiotherapist in Hong Kong appointed as a Hospital Chief Executive, Dr Lau has been a key driver for volunteer service in hospitals, with his team of volunteers providing about 10,000 service hours monthly at the cluster. He was awarded the HKSAR Chief Executive's Commendation for Community Service in 2009. Dr Lau has offered valuable advice and teaching support for PolyU’s MSc in Manipulative Physiotherapy Programme, being an Adjunct Associate Professor and Professor of Practice. He is currently a member of the Departmental Advisory Committee of Rehabilitation Sciences of PolyU and President of the Rehabilitation Sciences Alumni Association. Another recipient, Mr Elton Ng, is also RS graduate in Physiotherapy. Mr Ng now is a private physiotherapist, elite cross-country trail athlete and mountaineer. Physiotherapist Ng not only has immense talents and stamina, he also has a deep concern for others. As an elite cross-country trail athlete, he has represented Hong Kong in various competitions and won prizes. In 2016, he made a record by becoming the second Hong Konger to scale successfully Mt. Manaslu, the eighth-highest mountain in the world. Having conquered Mount Everest in 2017, he became the second Hong Kong mountaineer who had completed eight expeditions covering the eight highest mountains among seven continents in the world. He was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons (Professionals category) by the Junior Chamber International Hong Kong in 2018, in recognition of his devotion to volunteer services and charitable causes. For more details, please visit https://www.polyu.edu.hk/aado/aa/en/outstanding_alumni/outstanding_alumni.htm.