Launched in 1992, our Bachelor of Pharmacy Programme (BPharm) at CUHK is the only such programme in Hong Kong. To date, it has graduated more than 300 pharmacists, accounting for about 30% of the pharmacist work force in Hong Kong. Our program ranks among the top ten in the university in terms of attracting high academic achievers in the applicant pool. The teaching staff, all with advanced degrees from the United Kingdom or North America, is dedicated to challenge students with a high quality, rigorous curriculum in a nurturing environment that values teamwork, leadership, and commitment to civic responsibility. The School has an ongoing academic exchange with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and is committed to establish a few more. This kind of exchange will undoubtedly enrich the learning experience of the participants, an important asset in this globalized economy.

As the School of Pharmacy matured, advanced degree programs were established, including the Master of Clinical Pharmacy and the Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Combined degrees with other academic units are future possibilities. In addition, the school is home to the Drug Development Center and the Center of Pharmacoeconomics, which are resources to both the university community and the local as well as multinational pharmaceutical companies. I am confident that the school will continue to play a pivotal role in ensuring the citizens in Hong Kong access to high quality, cost-effective, safe medicine and high quality service of pharmacists in managing their drug therapy.

Our students benefit from the new knowledge discovered daily in the research laboratories led by our teaching staff. Their research seeks to advance the frontier of drug discovery, delivery, and therapy by gaining a mechanistic understanding of drug particle morphology and surface chemistry, drug transport mechanisms, interaction of herbal medicine and western medicine, and genetic and life style factors in modulating drug response. Several teaching staff members conduct cost-effectiveness and outcome research, as well as create innovative ways to monitor progress of drug therapy. Plans are under way to recruit investigators to lead the nanomedicine initiative and the pharmaceutical innovation initiative.

I am excited at the prospect of partnering with you and others to meet the challenges facing the School and the pharmacy profession by creating new opportunities in the pharmaceutical universe. We are witnessing the emergence of a transformed world shaped by globalization of knowledge, disease, travel and weather. Meanwhile, the economic and political center of gravity is shifting to the Pacific. With your support, your flagship school of pharmacy in Hong Kong can become the gateway to innovations in pharmaceutical education, research, testing, and regulation in the 21^st century.

This website is your one stop resource about the pharmacy community -- the school of pharmacy, its students, teachers, and alumni, as well as aspects of drugs and devices relevant to drug development. Please visit the site regularly, offer your insight, and give us your feedback.

I thank you for your interest in the School of Pharmacy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Best regards,

Vincent H.L. Lee