Sophia Sui Chee Chan
Professor Sophia Chan is currently Professor in Nursing, Senior Advisor to the President’s Office at The University of Hong Kong, Director of HKU Primary Health Care Academy and Policy Convenor of the HKUMed Primary Health Care Collaboratory. She was appointed by the HKSAR Government to be the Secretary for Food and Health (SFH) from 2017 – 2022. During her tenure as the SFH, not only has she been fighting the COVID-19 pandemic over 2.5 years, she had also made exemplary efforts and policy initiatives in protecting and promoting the health of the population through major policy initiatives such as embarking on a new journey in primary health care by developing District Health Centres (DHCs) in all 18 districts in Hong Kong. Professor Chan is one of the leading Nurse Scientists locally and internationally and was named among the world’s top 2% most cited scientists in her specialty areas by Stanford University in 2020. She has always been the top-funded researcher in HKU School of Nursing and has led many external competitive grants including GRF, HMRF, and commissioned grants from the Government, Hong Kong Jockey Club and key foundations and organisations locally and internationally. She is a pioneer and founding directors of a number of signature research and training programmes in tobacco dependency therapeutic interventions, and her findings has transformed smoking cessation services and tobacco control policies.
