HKUST OKT Innovation Talk Series - From Bench to Bedside: The Will, the Wall and the Way
Greetings from HKUST Office of Knowledge Transfer!
Biomedical research and development offers huge benefits to healthcare advancement. While scientists may be excited by early research results from their laboratories, the journey of translating pre-clinical research into clinical trials and finally successful marketing for use in humans may be more bumpy than expected. Where there is a will, there is a way – if you are prepared to break all the walls before the destination is seen.
In this talk, Mr. Henry Yau from the HKU Clinical Trial Centre will share with the audience his insights into how biomedical innovations could be brought smoothly into clinical development, with special highlights on the dos and don’ts of getting around the loopholes and overcoming the challenges. He will also provide a briefing on the clinical trials environment in Hong Kong and Mainland China, and the way of leveraging the expanding opportunities in the region.
Henry Yau is the Managing Director of The University of Hong Kong Clinical Trials Centre (HKU-CTC) and Chief Executive Officer of The University of Hong Kong Clinical Trials Centre (China) Limited (HKU-CTC-China). He holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and a MBA in Finance. Started his service in the pharmaceutical industry in the early-1990s, he joined HKU-CTC in 2000. Henry also undertakes roles in many local and international bodies, including:
• Chairperson, International Clinical Trial Center Network (ICN);
• Member, Working Group on Good Governance Practice for Research Institutions, Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS);
• Advisor (Asia), Training and Resources in Research Ethics Evaluation Program (TRREE);
• Vice Chief of the 6th Youth Editorial Board, The Chinese Journal of Clinical Pharmacology of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association;
• Executive Director, Committee of Ethics Review, World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS);
• Member, Expert Committee on Novel Drug Trials, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University;
• Executive Director, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Biomedical Innovation and Research Institutions Collaboration Center, Dongguan Jinan University Research Institute;
• Expert Advisor on Biomedical Innovation and Development, Pingshan District, Shenzhen;
• Advisory Board Member, China Medical University Hospital Clinical Trial Center, Taiwan (CMUH-CTC);
• Governance Committee Member, Institution Review Board of HKU/Hospital Authority Hong Kong West Cluster (HKU/HA HKW IRB); and
• Member, Consortium on Harmonization of Institutional Requirements for Clinical Research, Hong Kong (CHAIR).
Henry has a comprehensive range of expertise in clinical research management, including site management organization (SMO) management, contract research organization (CRO) management and Phase 1 Centre management, and in particular in clinical research organization operation, research ethics and regulatory affairs, contract and finance management, project management, quality management, risk management and strategic business development. Over the years, he has been leading his team in collaborating with over 300 pharma/device corporations and CROs worldwide in more than 1,300 industry-sponsored studies, and has also facilitated over 300 investigator-initiated studies.
Henry is dedicated to consolidating and transferring practical knowledge in clinical research management and operations. He has been invited to participate as speaker, trainer or panelist in more than 140 conferences/forums/workshops around the world. The proprietary training program designed by him and the HKU-CTC team – PRACTISE (Professional Research Accreditation for Clinical Trials Investigative Site Executives) – was specifically designed for meeting the practical needs of clinical investigators and study site personnel worldwide, and has gained wide recognition by medical institutions and regulatory authorities in the Asian, Middle Eastern and North African regions. Henry also authored clinical research-related books and policy documents such as Clinical Research Management and Compliance at Study Sites (2010/2015), Clinical Trial Terminology Handbook (2009), Standard Operating Procedure Template for Research Ethics Committees in Hong Kong (2014), Standard Operating Procedure of the Joint Scientific Committee for Phase 1 Clinical Trials (2014), and Guideline on Ethics Oversight and Scientific Evaluation of Phase 1 Clinical Trials (2014).